The Error of Nagato Yuki
by Perkele
Summary: Yuki begins acting slightly oddly, until something happens that may change the course of her relationship with Kyon forever. Just how far will he go to save her and through what means? And of course, how is Haruhi mixed up in all of this?
1. Chapter 1

Note: Written by author before having read past Volume 6 of the novel series, so please ignore any inconsistencies or contradictions that may appear concerning later novels.

* * *

_The Error of Nagato Yuki _

Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary.  
– Mark Twain

It was a normal day, how else could I describe it? It's how stories of this sort always begin. In any case, here's how it started: It was a normal day, as previously indicated. Lessons had ended early for me and Haruhi that day for some reason (I hadn't really been paying attention, just being glad I could skip some of the more mind-numbing lessons we would have had). She once again ran off to some undisclosed location, while I slowly dragged my feet to our clubroom. Like I said earlier, totally, perfectly, completely normal day, or so it was until…

Nagato was the only person in the room, sitting in her chair, reading a large, hardcover book. Once again I was forced to wonder whether she even had lessons. Maybe her lessons had also ended early.

"…Yes."

Oh, well that explains it, I guess.

I took a seat at the table in the middle of the room, relaxing for a moment in the gentle silence before the usual madness of our afternoons would begin. Only the distant, muffled sounds of the outside world and the methodical page turning from Nagato broke my meditations on the current tranquillity I was experiencing. I swear, you could probably keep time better according to the rate at which Nagato turns pages than one of those atomic clocks with a 0.000000001 second error ever could.

It must have been several minutes until I noticed it. I had been lulled to an almost drowsy state of mind by the steady scratching of pages, so I guess that would be why it took me a while to notice its absence. The turning of a page that normally happened at – and this is purely an estimation on my part – every ten seconds had stopped.

I jerked my head up from the cool table against which I had laid my head to rest. I turned my head around rapidly, wondering if I had fallen asleep and been left alone, while everyone else had gone home. As soon as my wits returned I realized that was silly. Haruhi would certainly have woken me up, loudly and with plenty of painful pokes I might add. Then again, this wouldn't have been the first time she had skipped coming.

Nagato was still sitting in her chair with her big book, yet there was something fundamentally wrong with that familiar image. It sent shivers down my spine for some odd reason. Nagato was certainly still there with her book, but her normally inclined head wasn't looking down at her book, but up, towards the opposite wall.

I followed her silent gaze, immensely curious to find what might have stopped the little bookworm from reading. But apparently, she was merely staring at an empty spot on the wall. Deeply perplexed, my gaze shifted between the empty spot on the wall and Nagato's frozen frame, desperately trying to figure out what was happening. This wasn't normal Nagato behaviour, and whenever she wasn't behaving normally (i.e. reading or reading some more), something bad was either going to happen or already happening.

_What the hell was going on?!_

Did she see something I couldn't? It wouldn't surprise me the least, after all the crazy space-magic she's done. Maybe she'd switched to infrared or ultraviolet or something? I saw no reason why she couldn't change her eyes to perceive an alternate wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum with relative ease.

Suddenly she moved. Well, not really, but seeing as this was Nagato, any movement came as a rather big surprise, especially if she was holding a book. Her head once again declined. Apparently she'd gone back to reading. To support this hypothesis, soon she was back to turning her book's pages.

What had just happened? If I didn't know any better, it had almost looked like she had stopped to contemplate whatever she had been reading. But she'd never done anything like that before! But could she? Why not?

Seeing as there weren't any crazy schoolgirls with knifes coming at me, it was becoming a more likely explanation than her seeing something I hadn't. What was this mysterious book that had appeared to capture the imagination of our all-knowing data being? What deep revelation did it contain that would make even Nagato stop and consider things?

Maybe I'm just imagining things…

_Forget that! I need to find out!_

Slyly, I slowly let the hand against which my head was resting slide so I could get a glimpse at the title. Alas, it was some foreign book with very long words on it. I think I knew a few of the words, but none that could help me in putting together the pieces of this odd puzzle. At least the letters were from the Latin alphabet. If I could just burn those letters into my memory, I might be able to enter them in a search engine later on and get a translation.

As I was slowly but steadily working my way through the first word, Haruhi barged in with a mighty kick.

"Heeeyy~ho!"

Like a typhoon, she stormed in, knocking me on the head with a plastic bag. Thankfully whatever was inside it wasn't hard.

"Oi, what the hell?"

"No sleeping on duty, Kyon!" Haruhi shouted with a determined smile. Then her expression changed into a deep frown as she gave the clubroom a proper inspection. "Where's Mikuru-chan?"

"Not here yet, I guess."

"This just won't do…" Haruhi scratched at her chin with her free hand, eyes scrunched up as she focused all her energy to solve a problem only she could see as one. Then again, Asahina deficiency is a severe problem that I'm suffering from as well at the moment.

"Hhmm, hey! Yuki!"

As Haruhi marched over to the silent girl, she slowly raised her gaze from her book to look at Haruhi's excited face.

"I know this isn't the typical M.O. for us, but today, you get to be the one to try on an outfit!"

WHAT?!

Nagato stared blankly at Haruhi, who was leaning down so the pair could be face to face, and blinked a couple of times.

"I have no idea why we haven't done this before!" Haruhi squeaked ecstatically as she skipped around Nagato's chair and grabbed Nagato's shoulders from behind, and then starting to snake her hands under the other girl's uniform.

I stood up as if to voice an objection, and froze in place. How exactly _could_ I object? What little protests I'd given in Asahina-san's defence had never worked, and thinking back now on the myriads of cute and sexy things she'd worn, I can't understand why I'd ever objected in the first place. And this really could be a once in a lifetime opportunity with Nagato involved.

"What, Kyon?"

Well, you see, Haruhi, it's just that… you don't dress Nagato up like you do with Asahina-san… except in group events… it's just that… well, it's not normal!

"I already said it wasn't typical, idiot!"

"But what does Nagato think?"

Both of us turned to look at Nagato, who had silently been observing our conversation. She turned her head around and gave Haruhi a brief look before she turned to me and blinked.

"It is all right."

Really?

"Yes."

"Great! It's funny how well this costume will actually go with your looks!"

What's that supposed to mean?

"It's a surprise! You'll find out later, until then, no peeking!" Haruhi grabbed me by the collar with blinding speed and dragged me out of the clubroom.

Before she slammed the door in my face, a sneaky smirk on her face was the last thing I saw.


	2. Chapter 2

After what seemed like an eternity in the hallway, the door was finally opened by a smiling Haruhi.

"It's perfect!"

And what exactly would I find on the other side of this door? I think I felt beads of sweat caused by anticipation go down my neck at the suspense of the whole matter. What had Haruhi dressed Nagato in, and what made it perfect for the diminutive beauty? Could Haruhi have dressed her up as an alien? No, that would be too obvious, wouldn't it? I doubt even Haruhi would waste her time on such an idea when it came to dressing Nagato up. Then again, that girl had entirely different standards from the rest of us mere mortals, time travellers, espers and aliens.

As Haruhi stepped aside to allow me back into the room, holding out a hand like an artist presenting their latest masterpiece, I allowed my eyes to take their time and scan what would most likely be an unbelievable sight. The very fact that it was Nagato doing cosplay instead of Asahina-san for a change, had me quivering in anticipation.

Standing in the middle of the room like a mannequin was Nagato, just as expressionless as ever with her hands hanging limply at her sides. It wasn't exactly anything mind-blowingly original, it was in fact, a sort of pastiche of pretty much everything that had come before from Haruhi for outfits to wear, except taken up a gear or two. I'm not entirely sure what she was supposed to be, a waitress, a shepherd, a maid? She had a short, frilly skirt reaching her knees, which were covered by long white socks – stockings? Some sort of dark…coat, her cardigan? No, it was too tight. A grey corset under it, a white shirt under that with slightly puffy… I think it had a hint of what people call a Victorian-style – or is it Lolita? Umm, uh…

Damn it, I just don't have the vocabulary to describe fancy female clothing. I just can't do the thing any justice at all, no matter how much I try to describe it. I'm just a guy and all I really know is that it was frilly with little bow ties appropriately attached, evenly black and white, with many layers to it, like a cake or something, and Nagato looked great in it. Spectacular, actually. The cute little grey cat ears didn't hurt either.

"C'mon, Yuki, do something! Show it off!" Haruhi exclaimed expectantly while leering at me like some sort of maniac.

Nagato gave Haruhi a blank look before she once again turned to look at me with what could have been considered an inquisitive look if you were familiar with the faint subtleties of Nagato's face. Why do you keep doing that? You don't need my permission or anything!

"Pose! Do a sexy pose!" Haruhi shouted, starting to sound rather impatient.

Once more, the little girl blinked. I was starting to become rather unsettled by the slowly increasing amount of blinking to tell you the truth. Nagato spread her arms and looked down, no doubt inspecting her new appearance just as eagerly as we were.

"No, not like that! Remember what I have Mikuru do whenever I get a new costume for her? Like that! Do it like Mikuru!" Haruhi stamped her foot down like an angry child.

For a moment, Nagato stood perfectly still while her gaze sort of unfocused. Then she turned her hips slightly while raising her hands behind her head. Her gentle, little lips parted slightly, as if she were about to sigh, but no sound escaped them. She cocked the knee closest to us, while puffing up her chest and arching her back. It was all rather sexy, I must admit. If the likes of Taniguchi and others had been here, they would probably have been foaming at the mouth. Luckily I had more self-control than they would have had in this situation; I merely gaped at her, awestruck by the lovely vision.

Haruhi took out a camera.

It's funny how these two girls are the complete and perfect opposites of each other. One is an emotional typhoon who can't conceal all the crazy things she feels while the other is apparently emotionless, never really revealing what goes on underneath that cute, white, enigmatic face.

"Perfect!!" Haruhi squealed, giddy at her own success in transforming the pretty Nagato into a magnificent beauty, worthy of having a constellation named after her in the heavens. I must remember to clean up my jaw from the floor after this is all done.

The flashes and clicks of the camera brought me back to reality from my stupor. Once again, I am forced to make a violent weather related simile about Haruhi's behaviour: She was spinning around like a tornado as she took pictures from various angles, while the hapless Nagato was stuck in the eye of it all.

"Yes, yes, yes! That pose is just perfect! The way your back arches so elegantly! How did you come up with it? Never mind. Do a spin! No wait! Jump and twirl around like daisy caught in a strong wind! No, on second thought! Grab your leg, balancing on one foot and lean forward while… No! Stay in the original pose, it's perfect!"

As Haruhi was giving useless, sometimes contradictory orders while snapping pictures like a crazed, starving paparazzi working for food, Nagato had remained absolutely still in her original pose, staring at me. Her gaze was intently focused on my face for some weird reason. Yes, Nagato, you look fantastic. Stop burning my soul with your deeper-than-space eyes!

"Kyon, clean your dropped jaw from the Brigade's hallowed floors before you drool all over the place!"

In my defence, I hadn't been drooling… much. It was more of a watering in my mouth like when you wait hungrily for an extravagant meal. Damn, I'm starting to sound like a sex offender with my excuses, aren't I?

"No time for daydreaming! Where are the others?!"

I took a look at my watch. "Most likely still in class," I answered dutifully to the Brigade's tyrant of a leader.

"Hmph," Haruhi huffed indignantly. "Well, seeing as those two won't be here for a while, I guess it's only fair that Yuki takes on Mikuru's role as the maid, seeing as she's already filling out her costume for today. I'll take my tea with milk and a hint of lemon, thank you very much! I don't think I've tried a combination like that yet."

Haruhi strode to her desk, and flopped down into her chair, attacking the computer's mouse, relentlessly clicking away, no doubt checking the SOS-Brigade's website and email.

I turned to look at Nagato, who was still in her sexy pose, staring at me.

"Uhm, you okay? You know you can stop posing now, right?"

"Yes," Nagato answered my question like it was an order, slowly lowering her hands and adjusting her posture like a robot. However, she remained there, standing in the middle of the room, still with her eyes fixed on my face. I even shuffled slightly to the left and right to make sure of the last proposition.

"If you don't want to, I can make Haruhi her tea," I offered to help courageously in a very gentlemanly way.

"That will not be necessary," Nagato answered, and turned an exact 90 degrees on her heels and walked silently to the side of the room to prepare the tea like an apparition.

Well, okay, I guess I'll just make myself useful and… not get in anyone's way. I took my usual seat, sitting back and giving my overheated brain some time to cool down. After a few minutes of getting into my usual state of mind, I got rather bored, and no, that isn't my usual state of mind… usually. I looked around to see what the two girls I was currently wasting my time with were doing to kill it themselves.

Haruhi had a frustrated look on her face, her lips pouting cutely and her eyebrows lowered at a declining angle. One of her feet was lounging on top of the other, wagging like a dog's tail. All in all, not a bad sight to see, I must admit. The few quiet moments that involved Haruhi were like pearls; rare and beautiful in their splendid scarcity.

I spotted Nagato's book on the table against which I was once again propping my head with my hand. Inconspicuously I tried to peer at its mysterious covers. I definitely didn't want Haruhi to get any strange ideas about this miraculous book. Who knows what might follow if she got her hands on it?

Unfortunately it was only the back of the book I could see, and the strange, long words which I couldn't understand even if my life depended on it weren't any help at all in figuring out what the story was about. I didn't even know if it was one of Nagato's favourites, a sci-fi story. From what little I was able to piece together, there was a question regarding… dreaming about electrified/electrical sheep? Okay, that couldn't have been right… I can barely understand it after all. But I certainly hope it was "electrical" and not the other possible alternative I had in my mind. Nagato probably wouldn't read a book about farming, if it indeed was about such matters. Or maybe it was a psychology book. On the other hand, I doubt she'd ever not read a book based on its contents, whatever they may be. Nagato read _everything_.

Seeing as there was no way I could figure out what the book was without alerting Haruhi to its existence, I once again allowed my bored vision to wander. Haruhi had changed positions now; her legs were on the chair, touching her butt (no, I wasn't actually seeing anything I shouldn't be seeing, the desk prevented that, I'm just assuming since her knees are now very close to her shoulders), as she typed with the wrath of a Viking warrior on the luckless keyboard. Her tongue was sticking out, seemingly in concentration. While Nagato on the other hand…

Nagato was carefully measuring water into the teapot, a thin silvery sliver of water trickled down into the pot from a cup she had filled with water. She stared intently at the tiny trickle of water, as if hypnotized by the sight. It was like she was counting that exactly the right amount of H2O molecules went into the pot.

As I watched this amazing display of patience, it happened, something that chilled me to my very core. Nagato's hand trembled. The silvery stream quivered as uncertainly as her hand for the briefest moment and then returned back to its steady flow. Even so, that moment felt like an eternity as I watched it with absolute horror.

Ok, maybe that's a slight hyperbole, but I want to make it absolutely certain that things like this do not happen when Nagato Yuki is involved. Still, it was extremely unsettling to watch for me personally.

As I continued staring at her intently, Nagato's head dropped slightly and her shoulders tensed, but other than that, nothing else apparently changed as she finished pouring the water into the pot.

Needless to say, I was freaking out at this point.


	3. Chapter 3

Several silent minutes had passed uneventfully after THE INCIDENT, with only the tapping of the keyboard by Haruhi and the bubbling of boiling water providing any kind of interruption to the monotony. I was feeling _extremely_ uncomfortable with the situation I found myself in. Haruhi had been quiet for a surprisingly long time, something which would only happen to her if she was feeling depressed somehow, but apparently she was just focused on whatever it was she was working on (or obsessing over, pick your poison). Nagato had continued overseeing the production of the tea, as it gently bubbled in the pot. She hadn't moved at all, which wasn't surprising, but the way she did it most definitely was. Her shoulders were tensed and occasionally her knees would rub against each other uncertainly. Was she really this nervous about preparing tea for Haruhi?

Then the whistling of the teapot came, shattering the awful silence.

"Ah, about time. Hurry it up, Yuki, I'm thirsty!" Haruhi hollered, not removing her eyes from the monitor.

Like a protocol droid, Yuki assembled a tray with three cups for tea and the teapot itself. She then glided across the room like a ghost towards Haruhi, where she methodically placed a cup of tea on Haruhi's desk. She took the pot in one hand, held the tray away from obstructing her way, and began to slowly pour a dark green tea into the cup. Like earlier, when she had carefully allowed the water to trickle into the pot, the tea flowed carefully into the cup.

Haruhi continued typing, oblivious to the odd way she was being served. Eventually however, she glanced at Yuki, who was still taking her time to measure out the tea in a ridiculously cautious manner.

Haruhi frowned. "C'mon, Yuki, pour it in! We don't have all day to wait. By the time you finish, the tea will have frozen solid!"

"…Understood," answered the humanoid interface, quickly pouring tea up to the rim of the cup. She took a step back and placed the pot on the tray she had managed to hold perfectly level for several minutes. I guess there's no further need to worry about the little shiver, I told myself, trying desperately to calm down.

She stood there as if waiting for more orders or perhaps approval from Haruhi for her tea. Haruhi tasted it and smacked her lips. "Not bad…"

Nagato then proceeded to walk towards me. On the way she stopped at her spot, left a cup there, quickly filled it, and continued advancing towards me. Not exactly proper tea serving protocol to serve yourself before you've served everyone else, but I think I'll let it slide this time. She probably thought it would be more efficient to serve herself on the way over or something. She placed the final cup before me and filled it up to the rim as well. Amazingly, the teapot was seemingly empty after that, as Yuki tilted the pot so far until the final drips dropped in, that there couldn't possibly have been any more liquid inside it.

She then briskly walked away before I could even thank her. I turned my head around to see her place the pot where it belonged. I turned to my tea and carefully lifted it, not wanting to spill any. As I took a sip, I felt the presence of someone standing behind me. After I lowered the cup back down onto the table, I turned my head around once again and saw Nagato standing behind me, holding the tray to her chest with hands crossed over it. Even though there was no expression on her face, she seemed to be waiting for something rather expectantly.

"It's good," I offered a reply, growing increasingly nervous with every passing microsecond.

Nagato merely gave me a brief courteous nod before she walked away to her own seat, where she sat down, lifted her book off the table and began reading.

Her tea remained untouched for the remainder of the silence that once again fell upon the three of us. The steam gently curved around her cup, rising in spirals, creating a small, hazy shroud between me and her. Perhaps light was being reflected oddly through the haze, or more likely it was my own imagination, but I could have sworn I saw a slight tint of red on her pale cheeks.

I'm not exactly sure how many minutes it took until things got even worse for me. In any case, at some point, Nagato took out her bookmark and with carefully measured, confident and swift movement placed it between the open pages of her book. With both hands, she clamped the book shut with a small thump. She then placed the book on the long table, exactly the same distance from the two edges closest to it on the corner of the table on which it was placed.

Then Nagato turned her blank stare to her tea cup. She examined it for a lengthy moment, her hands held together, resting on the hem of her dress over her slender legs. She observed the tendrils of steam that still spiralled from it, now greatly diminished compared to their initial appearance. Nagato gave me a brief look, but quickly averted her eyes from my own staring ones and focused on her cup again. She then lifted a hand and brought it towards the cup like a crane. Slender fingers clasped the handle sturdily. The cup rose gently, but with a determined elegance on its graceful journey towards those small, cute lips.

The reason that so much stress has been placed in describing the actions of Nagato so carefully is to make it absolutely, positively certain, without room for an ounce of reasonable doubt, that what followed was not how Nagato Yuki acted. In. Any. Situation. Ever.

As the rim of the teacup was approaching those little lips, IT happened once again. Her hand trembled. A shiver ran through her entire body in fact. And the teacup that had been so precisely filled to the rim spilled its lukewarm contents on Nagato.

"AH! Yuki! What are you doing?! Getting our new costume all dirty! Unforgivable!!" Haruhi's accusing voice rang like church bells in a cemetery during a cold night.

Haruhi ran over to Nagato, pulled her up and almost ripped the piece of clothing off the small, seemingly fragile girl.

"How could you let this happen?" Haruhi cried out childishly. "Where's the paper, or some absorbent cloth? Huh, what is this, an abduction of all absorbent materials by Martians?" she continued petulantly, before she added thoughtfully while eyeing the blot on the dress. "…Maybe I can lick it off, you know, as a last resort."

Damn it! What are you doing? It's just a costume!

I had to actually get up and pull Haruhi off of Nagato before her outstretched tongue assaulted the smaller girl. Something like this may be the dream of countless men, perhaps even me included, but such things as this cannot and most definitely will not happen in the clubroom of a school, before the school day is even officially over. There's no telling who might walk in and cause some crazy scandal. I can already picture the headlines… On a related note, I'm surprised the SOS-Brigade has managed to avoid any headlines, of even the pathetic types like school newspapers, much to the chagrin of her royal pain-in-my-butt Haruhi, no doubt.

"What are you doing, idiot?! We need to clean that up before it stains!"

"Not like that!"

"Hmm, you might be right." Haruhi suddenly stopped struggling against me, turning to look at me with huffy contemplativeness. "Who knows what kind of lewd ideas you might be getting."

Me?

"Yeah, you. Body language always gives away pervs; that stupid look on your face, slight twitching in the hands and eyebrows, and the hint of an embarrassed blush," Haruhi listed like a regular Sherlock Holmes as she scrutinized me with an ugly scowl on her pretty face.

"Now get out, so we can deal with this problem without your idiocy stinking up the place," Haruhi said angrily, as she pushed me out of the room. Nagato remained standing in the middle of the room, blankly examining the spot on her new outfit.

Once again that day, the door of the clubroom was slammed in my face, but this time there was no wicked smile to send me off, but an angry and indignant glare instead.


	4. Chapter 4

Several minutes later, with me beginning to wonder when the heavenly presence of Asahina-san and that idiotic walking smile everyone knew by the name of Koizumi would make an appearance, Haruhi kicked the door open and rushed past me, carrying the bag she had brought with her, full again. The angry scowl was still wreaking havoc on her pretty face as she whizzed past me like a rocket. Without a single word, Haruhi left the school for that day.

I decided to go and check up on Nagato. I was starting to get really worried about her, what with all the strange things that had been happening to her and who knows what punishment Haruhi had inflicted upon her for messing the new costume.

Nagato was standing in the middle of the room, nearly dressed, pulling up the last part of her school uniform, her skirt. She stopped halfway through pulling it up to look up at me, leaving her pale upper thighs and colourless panties fully visible for me. She stared at me for a moment before she stood up straight, pulled her skirt up and fastened it on tightly around her slender waist.

I gulped nervously. It's funny how seeing a girl's panties is a lot more embarrassing to see than seeing the same area covered by something like a bathing suit. I mean, I've seen her wearing a lot less, but seeing her underwear just fills you up with shame. Maybe it's because bathing suits are meant to be seen, unlike underwear. Hey, they _are_ called _under_wear for a reason… Can't believe it took me that long to figure that out. Jeez… I should just stop here, before my crossed wiring causes a major malfunction.

"Uh, are you okay?" I asked. I gave the back of my head a lazy scratch, while I diverted my gaze from her obsidian eyes.

"…Yes."

"G-good."

"…"

"You know what, I think we can call it a day and leave. I sincerely doubt Haruhi's going to come back. So we'll just leave a note for the others… That is, unless you want to stay here and read?"

"No."

"Oh, okay. Well, see ya then," I said with a shrug. I walked over to the table, past Nagato who kept her eyes locked on me, and took some paper and a pen to quickly scribble a note. When it was done, I walked towards the door. On my way, I picked up my bag, which I'd left against the wall next to the door, and turned to leave.

I walked out and held the door open for Nagato. She hadn't moved at all.

"Well, are you coming out or not?"

The phantom-like girl silently glided past me out into the hallway, carrying her own bag.

I closed the door and slipped the note between it and the frame, since I had nothing to stick the damn thing on the door with. I made sure it was fully visible. I hope it doesn't fall off or anything. It would be terrible if Asahina-san came here, didn't notice it and waited here for hours. I wouldn't mind if it happened to Koizumi. Heh. But it'd be even worse if the two waited here together, so I took all the time I could to make sure the note was secure but still fully visible.

When I turned around, I found Nagato watching me dutifully like a dog behind me to my surprise. She was holding her bag in her arms like she had with the tray, holding it to her chest. Her fine brow was furrowed slightly. And there was something weird going on with her lips… dare I think it? Was she giving her lower lip the smallest of bites?

"Hey, are you okay? Seriously?"

"…Yes."

"Okay then, I guess I'll be going then. See ya."

I started walking away, telling myself nothing was wrong, that I should enjoy the few hours of freedom I had received, but nothing could relieve me of my anxiety.

I was just about to turn around to say something to Nagato, when I felt the slightest of tugs on my sleeve.

"Wait…" the quiet voice of Nagato said.

I turned around in shock at the sudden connection between us. Seeing Nagato like this was starting to stress me out considerably. What is up with her? She looks so lost and confused, for her, that is. Her shoulders are sagging slightly, there's a lot more colour in her usually pale face, and she is actually fidgeting with her bags straps! FIDGETING!

"I would… like to go to the library again."

"Oh… okay."

I guess I could go… I didn't really have any plans for tonight anyway…

We stood there for awhile, until I had had enough and started walking out. Nagato followed me like a loyal dog.

"You know, you can go to the library all by yourself if you want to," I said uncertainly as we walked down a flight of stairs.

"I am aware of that," came the monotone reply.

Then what? You want _me_ along? Not that I'm really against this, but it just seems so out of character for you. Didn't I make a promise to go with her someday? I can't even remember anymore.

I had a feeling I'd met a Nagato like this before, a long time ago, in a different place. But the strange sense of déjà vu disappeared as I shook my head. Ugh, there were some things better left not remembered. The brief memories had conjured up an inexistent stabbing pain in my stomach.

I opened the door for her out of the clubroom complex, but she wouldn't go before me, so I ended up going through first. When we came outside, we continued our way through the school complex's inner yard, the mix of sand and small gravel crunching under our feet, the only sound in the suddenly quiet outdoors.

Abruptly, the crunching noises behind me stopped. I turned around to see what the holdup was. Nagato was staring up at the sky with what could only be called a shocked expression. The bag she had been holding like a precious gift from the gods slipped out of her hands.

"Nagato?"

She gave me a fleeting look before she collapsed onto the ground.

"Nagato!" I ran to her, to hold her slender body up, cradling her head carefully against my shoulder. What little colour her pale face had possessed had disappeared. Her eyes were half-closed, pupils twitching in an agitated state.

"…"

"NAGATO!!"

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!


	5. Chapter 5

I had carried the unconscious body of Nagato behind a shed for spare equipment on the school's field for sports. I had propped her up against the shed's wall. My heart was racing along with mind.

What should I do? Take her to the nurse? Call an ambulance? But what if they found out that she isn't a human? Could they? What if the government comes and takes her away and starts doing tests on her? What do I do? I have to do something! She might be dying for all I know! No, don't be stupid, she just collapsed? Heatstroke? A nigh omnipotent alien-creature just fainted… _Sure_, that's just perfectly normal, idiot! What if people see me, carrying a defenceless, unconscious girl around? What if I'm arrested? Damn it! Focus on her, you selfish prick!

Because I had been pacing around nervously and muttering to myself in a state of panic, I hadn't noticed Nagato open her eyes. It was only when she started quietly muttering in a monotone whisper that I noticed her.

I crouched down next to her, grasping her by the shoulders. "Nagato! You're –"

"Rebooting…… resetting protocols…… processing…… new protocols received……. Requesting confirmation……. New Initiative accepted……. Memory transfer to alternate unit commencing to await later access time while new data is processed…… processing….. initiating diagnostic… all systems fully operational… requesting memory recovery…. Request denied…"

Nagato blinked her ebon eyes, before she turned her head around levelly to face me. "Who are you?"

WHAT?!

"It's me, Kyon!"

What the hell, can't she remember who I am?! If she can't remember me then what about Haruhi and everyone else? Has everything she knows been wiped out, or was it just the parts about me?

"…"

"Hey, Nagato! Snap out of it!" I gently shook her.

Empty eyes stared at me for a moment. She gave a quick glance upwards and blinked before her gaze resettled on my face. "Oh, it is you. I have been briefed on your connections to this unit and the target of observation."

Target of observation?

"Suzumiya Haruhi."

"What the hell is going on here exactly? You're – you're _different_… somehow. Seriously, what's going on?"

"Your assessment of the situation is correct. I am indeed not the same exact unit you have recently been in contact with."

"Huh?"

"I am a backup program that has been installed in the case of a procedural malfunction. I will be inhabiting this organic interface for now."

What the hell? They replaced Nagato?

"Oi! You tell those Integrated Data Sentient Entity bastards to give us back our Nagato, or I'll go 'John Smith' on Haruhi's ass! I already warned them didn't I?"

Nagato took a moment to consider things, staring up at the sky once again, and then snapped back to attention as if she had received silent orders. "The Integrated Data Sentient Entity is well aware of your threats, human. We will comply with your demands, but reinstallation of previous thought patterns and memories cannot occur at this moment."

"Why the hell not?"

"As you may or may not be aware, this unit has had to observe, process and record immense amounts of data concerning Suzumiya Haruhi and her companions, you included."

Me?

"Yes, as stated before, you are a crucial factor in the ongoing analysis of Suzumiya Haruhi."

Ok, I guess I already did know that… So why couldn't Nagato be returned to normal right now?

"The vast amounts of data this unit is required to process within a mere solar cycle of this planet, or using more common terminology, a day, has been taxing. And that is without all the conflicting data she has discovered concerning the myriad of Suzumiya Haruhi's companions being taken into account. Constant recalibration is required. It is one of the main reasons why this unit was deemed not suitable for a more socially acceptable personality program; such a program would have taken away much needed processing power from all the conflicting data she must process as the unit closest to the target of observation capable of warping old data and creating new data."

Ah… I see, I guess that's why Asakura was so happy and cheerful, she was just backup. But still, it's as if they knew Nagato would be the one to study Haruhi at the closest distance. Then again, making her different was what probably attracted Haruhi to her in the first place.

"System anomalies have been amassing for an extended amount of time. It was only a matter of time until all the conflicting data would cause some sort of…" – Nagato made a short uncharacteristic pause whilst spewing jargon at me, before she continued – "malfunction to occur. All of her personal memories and gathered data are being shifted through various different processors in order aide in the unit's return. The conflicting data must either be deleted, or a new framework must be set up so that conflicting data will not cause any further malfunctions."

Okay, I didn't understand most of that jargon, but the impression I got was that Nagato had had what could be called a nervous breakdown. She was now on extended leave, like at some extra-dimensional spa or something, taking a load off. I liked to think of it that way, at least it beat the alternative. It was all fully understandable when Haruhi is concerned. But this was Nagato, she's not supposed to have nervous breakdowns.

This whole situation seemed highly suspect. Wanting to make sure we weren't being shafted (you never know with these weird alien god characters), I had an important question to ask, before I could even _begin_ to consider relaxing.

"After you… uh, reinstall Nagato, nothing had better have changed with her, or else."

"There is no need for further threats or worries on your part, human. The previous personality will be reinstalled with the minimal amount of adjustments as possible, ensuring a fully functional unit capable of performing her duties without raising any suspicions a change in personalities might incur."

I sighed in relieve. Things were going to be okay, I guess, although I'll have to keep a close eye on this 'Nagato' and the results of this rebooting, or whatever. But even then, a stray nagging thought wouldn't leave me alone:

"And what was this conflicting data?"

Nagato stared at me for a long time with her familiar poker face; it seemed like an eternity, as those empty eyes drilled into me. Even though the face looking back at me was Nagato's, it was somehow disturbingly different. A normal person couldn't tell the minute differences in Nagato's face if they hadn't had as long a time as me to study it. The face I saw now, though calm and practically expressionless, was not the Nagato I knew now, but more like the one I had met for the first time. It's hard to explain in words, but it seemed dreadfully cold and calculating compared to her more recent, calming poker face that I had grown so accustomed to.

I guess I'm not being left with a lot of room for interpretation, am I?


	6. Chapter 6

Even though I had had much explained to me by the new fake Nagato (whom I do not approve of in the slightest), there were a few details that kept nagging at me. Seeing as I had devoted myself to the study Nagato-ology (which sounds extremely stupid even to me, but give me a break, I'm under considerable stress here), I couldn't help but feel that things weren't as simple as they appeared.

The faux-Nagato had implied in her long, dragging explanation that Haruhi and her constant reality warping powers and the inconsistencies they brought up in the world were the main cause of Nagato's blight. I can buy that, but not as the all-encompassing theory here. She may have been the initial cause, the trigger, the first crack in the dam that was Nagato, but I couldn't put aside all the other observations I had made.

The book. The thoughtful look. The blush. The long stare I had received from the unapproved Nagato variant. I couldn't shake the feeling that more was going on than I was being told.

Nagato B, as I had started to call her in her current condition, had left the school grounds by now. When I had asked her where she was going, she had simply stated that she was going home. Even if she wasn't my Nagato, she certainly shared plenty of her mannerisms. Spouting head-splitting jargon if asked a question about her kind or something otherworldly and then turning taciturn, keeping her lips tightly shut only to give curt answers if anything mundane was asked.

As much as I wanted to go home and curl up in my bed and wish to wake up, I couldn't simply leave this be. I had to face this, and that meant going to _him_. Sometimes, I just hate my life. As if I hadn't received _enough _crazy rhetoric for one day…

* * *

"Hmmm, this is quite perplexing, to say the least," Koizumi said, tapping a finger against his chin thoughtfully before he gave me one of his customary, idiotic grins. "Did she tell you what _exactly_ caused this malfunction in our friend?"

"No."

The two of us were back in the clubroom. I had had to tell Asahina-san, who had arrived before Koizumi, that Haruhi had already left. I could have brought her in on everything right then and there, but I hadn't wanted to make her worry too much yet, especially since I myself didn't know much about the whole thing. But maybe a talk with Koizumi would prove to be more enlightening.

"Hmm, makes sense, I guess… need to know information and such… Of course, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch would it, to assume that Suzumiya-san had something to do with this?"

"Probably not."

"Yes. But we cannot ignore the fact that in our small social group, we are all open to manipulations and other developments."

"You make it sound almost like one of us was behind this."

"And you think that is impossible?"

Hmmm, I guess not, not as such. Well, I wouldn't say that… Ah, I don't know!

"I was thinking more along the lines of social interaction and its results, but since you've opened the door, let's discuss the more unsettling possibilities: for example, there is a member in our group who has always had a rather awkward relationship with Nagato-san, most likely because she is privy to more knowledge about these sentient data beings than the rest of us."

You bastard. You're accusing Asahina-san of this, aren't you?

"She certainly is a suspect, but of course, no more than I am, I'm afraid."

Damn right you're suspect. The fact that you would even attempt to insinuate such things about the sweet Asahina-san is proof enough!

"But let us retrace our steps for the moment. I believe there are far more likely suspects behind this deed."

"Who?"

"Well, off the top of my head, I can think of at least four."

That many? "Who?" I repeated.

"Well, naturally Suzumiya-san, because of her powers."

Of course.

"Then there is the Sentient Data Entity. Perhaps they – or is it an it? – has changed their plans. Then there is Nagato-san herself. Knowing what she has done before and is capable of doing, this is not too far of a stretch either."

I guess you might have a point there, though I don't like it.

"And of course, last but definitely not least, is you, Kyon." The jerk smirked his signature smirk at me.

Huh? What?! You should have your head examined.

"But of course you. Stop being so coy. Everyone is well aware that you are probably the closest person to Nagato-san. And as long as it doesn't – how should I say this? – stray from the platonic, it'll be all right. Not that I am personally against it, but there are other – hmmm – people who might see this and not approve."

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about Haruhi, would you?"

"Heh, but of course, to a certain extent. I knew you were just playing the role of the dummy," Koizumi said, smirking with what was probably one of the most sarcastic looking smiles on his dumb face I had ever seen. "Your relationship with Suzumiya-san is of course of the utmost importance. Like with Nagato-san, I don't think there is a single person she is closer to than you as well. My, my, it must be nice to be so popular."

Don't push it, or I'll smack you.

"Heheh. No need to get upset, but you must admit, you certainly have a unique grasp on the girls in our group, for some reason. It could make one jealous. Hahah."

"Okay, enough. I came to you for answers, and I haven't gotten anything but wild speculation."

"Wild? Oh well, never mind. I suppose I might have jumped the gun on the issue. Before we start searching for a culprit, if there even is one, we should first identify the problem and seek a solution. From what I have gathered, your spa-metaphor might not be completely off the mark. In fact, it seems to work as a rather fitting analogy based on what we currently know."

Yeah, yeah, I'm awesome. So what else is new?

"The Nagato-san we know has been replaced, but not by a physical copy. A sort of mind-swap, if you will. I have been wondering exactly how personal identity applies to such creatures formed from pure data, but apparently, at least when entering the physical plain, these creatures are separated on a similar fundamental level as we are from each other. When a consciousness is housed within a physical body, it also gains certain restrictions, very practical and logistical ones. Perhaps… no, the human brain is capable of a staggering amount of simultaneous processing, even if such capacity is not fully being used to the maximum potential at any given point in time…"

"Hey, stick to the problem: what's happened and how can we fix it?"

"Well, to put it plainly, and in a simple metaphorical manner: the persona, or program, we know as Nagato-san has been replaced, because she has encountered some sort of error in her processing. What that is, I can only guess. She has been replaced somewhere else, while the necessary adjustments are made. A program, or persona, similar to her original mind set has been placed – or maybe it was already there as a fail-safe – and is now carrying on with her duties, as a substitute, if you will."

"Yeah, but what can we do to help?"

"As far as I can tell, nothing really. We must take their word on them 'fixing' the situation all by themselves. Of course, this has me rather wary of the whole situation."

"How so?"

"Can we really trust them that we will receive Nagato-san back as she was? If they do not change anything, she is likely to – hmmm, for lack of a better word, malfunction once again. This is something they wish to avoid, as any observer would. It is more than likely that some drastic changes might occur in her personality. I'm certain that you, like me, would definitely be saddened to see all the progress we have made with Nagato-san disappear."

"Yeah, I was worried about that too, but I've got it covered."

"Really? Dare I ask for details?"

"You could, but I wouldn't answer."

Koizumi gave me a brief, almost knowing smile. "It is good that you are being more secretive with what you know. Even though I would like to know more, I am still pleased to know there are some things you deem important enough not to tell others. Quite frankly, despite my affections for the other two members beside Suzumiya-san in our group, I will always have an ambivalent feeling towards them. They are friends, but I know nothing of their real motives. Just knowing they are also denied such information makes me capable of enduring not knowing myself."

If Asahina-san asked me directly, nothing short of cutting my tongue off would stop me from telling her everything about John Smith. But luckily, she doesn't know to ask. For some reason, I think John Smith should be my secret, especially his connection to Haruhi. Perhaps I'm just angry at the others for having their own secrets and this is my way of getting back at them. Or maybe I'll see myself as being more equal with these extraordinary people if I too have something to hide. Besides, Koizumi probably has a point; it's best to keep my ace close and secret, my real weapon against Haruhi. Well, not exactly against but… well… you never know with her, do you?


	7. Chapter 7

The following day, as I was making my way up to school, I had the amazing luck (or lack thereof) to run into Haruhi. This certainly was a first. It's odd how I've never run into her on my way up to school, after all, we're in the same class and everything. Heck, I still don't even know where she lives.

"Hmf," she huffed at me like indignant royalty, stomping away not quite as elegantly.

"Hey wait!"

I couldn't just let her go like this, I needed to soothe some of my worries and this was the best way. This was the only way I might be able to find out if Haruhi had done something to change Nagato, on purpose or not, as is usually the case.

"What?" Haruhi stopped and turned her head around to look at me, an inquisitive eyebrow raised that managed to also convey her current dislike for me at the same time.

"How" – oh boy, this was going to be awkward – "How are you doing? Anything different in your life? Has something changed for you?"

It's funny how high her eyebrow can go when she's genuinely surprised. "Wha? What are you asking me all of a sudden? What's up with you?" she asked, starting out bewildered, but quickly progressing to a steady and serious tone. But even her serious voice couldn't hide the blush she had developed.

I decided to cough politely, giving her a chance to cool down. This seemed to only further aggravate her and add to her rosy complexion. No doubt she was starting to get angry at the fact that I'd gotten such an intimate response from her.

"Never mind. Forget it!" Haruhi huffed. She raised her nose and strode away quickly with a scowl on her face.

"Wait!" I ran up to catch up with her. "I'm serious! Anything new in your life? Has something changed? I need to know."

Haruhi turned her head away from me to avert her eyes from mine, puffing her lips cutely in annoyance as she continued walking.

"Shuddup. Nothing wrong with me," Haruhi answered through pursed lips.

Abruptly, she came to a halt and turned her head to look me straight in the eye. The last thing I noticed before those eyes of hers drew me in like a black hole was the sudden disappearance of her blush.

"Why are you asking me anyway? You've never really shown any deep interest in me before? What's changed with you?" The detective in Haruhi had awakened.

Her eyes drilled into mine with such intensity, that it caused me to blush in turn. I turned my head away from her questioning face and rubbed the back of my head uncertainly.

Damn, what do I tell her? I can't tell her the truth. For starters, she most likely wouldn't really believe it. We've been down this road before and all I got was laughter and insults in my face the last time. And even if she did believe, well, that just opened up an entire barrel of different problems I didn't want to deal with at the moment. Or ever. I hadn't really decided yet.

So what could I tell her that she would believe and not get angry with me?

"I just… thought that – well, we don't really know that much about each other on a personal level, after such a long time, that… something should be different. I realized that after everything we've been through, we should be close… -er."

She gave me a long stare.

"Shouldn't we?" I added desperately.

Haruhi gave her nose a brief scratch before she turned away from me and continued walking up hill.

Damn, this was going to be even harder than I had first thought.

"Nothing's up. Same old, same old. But thanks for asking," Haruhi answered me, still continuing her trek uphill without turning around to face me.

I gave a deep sigh. I guess I'll just have to take her word for it, not that she'd probably tell me if something was wrong. She just wasn't the type. But she didn't seem to be depressed, jealous, angry or anything on the other hand. So I guess I should move on to different suspects. But before that, I needed to find the problematic person herself and check to see if she'd reverted back to normal.

I had to wait until lunch to go looking for her. I found Nagato in our clubroom, reading. No big surprise there. Unfortunately, my earlier questioning had roused Haruhi's interest and she had tailed me with conspicuous subtlety, leaping behind obstacles too small to hide even her thin frame. Eventually she had given up on that (after I'd called her out on it a couple of times) and had merely started walking by my side, giving me a constant suspicious look.

And I had thought the looks people were giving us earlier, when she'd been inexpertly jumping from one failed hiding place to another had been bad enough.

"Why are we here?" Haruhi quizzed me, giving the clubroom a sweeping glance. Her eyes travelled across the room, not even stopping at the sight of Nagato, who almost everyone treated as such a stable part of the room as was they did the furniture. Her lack of presence within the room would probably be treated with no more suspicion than a misplaced chair would be. It would feel odd, certainly, but no major reaction would be had either, seeing as she didn't leave a very lasting impression into people's minds just sitting there, quietly reading.

It was, of course different for someone like me. Immediately I could list several things that were off about the Nagato sitting there. For starters, her shoulders were higher up than usual, she had, in my opinion, greatly relaxed in the presence of SOS-Brigade. And then there was… You know what, I spend far too much time inspecting the girl than I should, don't I? All I had really needed to have said would have been that she was back to wearing glasses.

"Huh? Yuki, you're back to wearing glasses?" Haruhi asked with genuine surprise in her voice as she quickly strode forth to inspect Nagato. Haruhi stood by the sitting girl and bent over to peer at Nagato's face. It was adorable how her hands stayed on her hips throughout the whole thing.

Nagato continued reading for what felt like a very long moment, and then pulled out a bookmark, placed it elegantly between the pages of her book, and closed it with a gentle snap. She then raised her head and stared back into Haruhi's eyes.

The pair remained like this for a painfully long minute. I actually had time to check my watch, kind of like they do in those clichéd shows. The only things missing were the revolving hands of a clock on the background, the flashing window as days passed and turning pages of one of those old calendars to complete the mental image of time passing I decided to entertain myself with during the awkward interval.

"Hmm, weird…" Haruhi shifted, standing up straight, tapping her chin thoughtfully with her forefinger, before she turned her reflective gaze on me. "Really weird…"

Haruhi continued inspecting me intently, before she asked in a serious tone, "What day is it?"

If you still did your hair like you used to at the start of school, I could have easily answered that question, but right now, it took me a moment.

"Friday. Why?"

"Date?"

"27th."

"Hmm, I see… multiplied by a factor of two and then a one added… a clue perhaps? A decoy by an evil grandmaster, a red herring or maybe a coincidence…?"

I had no idea what she was talking about.

Haruhi started walking around in a small circle, one hand bracing the other which was attached to her chin. You know, the stance people always assume when they want to make a show of contemplation. Such a display usually makes me wonder if there's anything actually cerebral going on under the façade.

"Stupid Kyon… Glasses… anything else? What next?" Haruhi muttered under her breath as she continued spinning like a carousel.

Half expecting someone I knew but somehow different to enter, I turned to look at the door expectantly. No one burst through the door. Sometimes I just feel like an idiot around a person who can manifest her subconscious will. I guess I'm just funny that way.

"Kyon!" Haruhi suddenly came to a screeching halt.

"What?"

"Summon the forces! Something foul is afoot, and I intend to figure out what!"

Haruhi was nearly at the door when I got the rare chance to pull her back by her own collar.

"Geez, what the hell, Kyon?" Haruhi asked, rubbing at her throat as she gave me a glare.

"It's lunch, which is almost over. We've got to get back in a few minutes."

Haruhi glared some more at me before she huffed hurtfully at me and continued her march out of the clubroom. "Fine, we'll just have to return to this later. After all the lessons. It'll be your job to make sure everyone is gathered here, post-haste."

"Fine," I told her, eager to get her to leave so I could myself get my turn to properly inspect Nagato B.

And with the slam of the door, I was given that chance. (I wonder how long that poor door can last the abuse it receives from Haruhi on a constant basis.)

I gave Nagato B a long look. She had remained in her chair, quietly observing us, while her book remained on her lap with her hands crossed over it. She stared back at me for a long time, until she deemed our time together to be over, got up, placed her book in her bag and silently walked out past me.

After that, I remained in a foul mood for the rest of the day for some reason. I tried to rationalize that it had mainly been caused by nearly missing the start of the next lesson, but I knew that wasn't really the case.


	8. Chapter 8

"Wh-what's going on?" Asahina-san asked in that quaint, timid manner that just made you want to hug her.

I had faithfully gathered everyone in the clubroom, as per my instructions. Only Haruhi herself was missing.

"Haruhi called an emergency meeting, for whatever crazy reason it is this time."

My only real wish at the moment was that the idiot wouldn't go on to babble about whatever connection she had made up between me and Nagato B's new glasses. I think behaviour like that is usually called apophenia, but unfortunately, that wasn't really the case here, was it? There _was _a connection, I just hadn't wanted Haruhi to notice it. Or the connection was there because she _wanted_ it to be there… I should really stop thinking about stuff like that, gives me the creeps.

"Nagato-san? Why are you wearing glasses again?" Asahina-san asked shyly.

The silent girl lifted her gaze from her book and hitched up her glasses with her left hand, causing a lens flare effect in the afternoon sun shining through the window.

"Is it not satisfactory?" Nagato B asked.

"No! Not at all! I just thought you didn't wear them anymore. You haven't in such a long time. I-it's almost weird seeing you wear them again."

"…I see."

Nagato B then took off her glasses and carefully, almost lovingly, placed them inside a case she dug out from her bag. She then placed the case back inside her bag, careful not to let anything happen to the glasses or any of the bag's contents.

She then turned to inspect Asahina-san, her hands held in her lap as she innocently asked, "Better?"

"Uhm, uh, that is – uh, yes, I suppose so," Asahina-san answered, flustering over the attention she was receiving from Nagato. She blushed and bit her lower lip gently. Damn it, she is just too damn cute!

Nagato B then shifted her attention to the other two members in the room. She gave me a brief look, before she focused her attention on Koizumi.

"Hmm, excuse me, but is it true, that you are not really the same Nagato we have known for quite a while now?" Koizumi asked with his hands crossed as he leaned against a wall, scrutinizing Nagato B from afar.

"Wh-what?" Asahina-san whimpered in shock.

"Yes, that could be said," Nagato answered dutifully.

"I see…"

"W-waaait! What is going on here?" Asahina-san asked, now visibly scared, holding her arms up to her chest. She pointed a trembling finger at Nagato and asked, "T-t-this isn't Nagato-san?"

"No, it isn't," I answered sorrowfully. I then proceeded to telling her the gist of it. Asahina-san listened to me with wide-eyed shock and awe.

"I… I see," she said after I had finished explaining things to her. She then gave Nagato B a critical look. "A mind swap?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Hmmm…"

It was then that Koizumi stood up straight, arms now at his sides. "Is there any kind of estimate you could give to us as to when the Nagato-san we know will be returning?"

"No."

"I see." Koizumi rubbed his chin thoughtfully, assuming the same contemplative posture Haruhi had earlier that day, once again making me wonder if anything deep was actually being considered. With Koizumi, it was probably just as much about putting up a show as it was with Haruhi, but at least with him, I could understand most of his trains of thought.

"Is there any way we can help in speeding up the process?"

"No."

"What was the cause of this… malfunction?"

It seemed Koizumi had hit a nerve or something with Nagato B. Nagato was usually very straightforward with her answers, but now, for B, there seemed to be something she wanted to hold back. She remained silent, staring at Koizumi.

"I see…" Koizumi said thoughtfully, taking back his position leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

As what seemed to be a final thought, he added, "Is there anything you can tell us about the conditions under which the malfunction occurred?"

"Yes. As I told the other one earlier, this unit has observed, processed and saved immense amounts of conflicting data from the target of observation, Suzumiya Haruhi. All this data and whatever…" – pause I found significant, because it usually shouldn't happen during Nagato's info dumps – "individual conclusions made and personal experiences have caused a significant error in the continuing function of said unit."

"Hmm, I see… thank you very much for the answers," Koizumi said, nodding at Nagato in a polite manner.

Nagato B responded in kind and then went to staring at the wall. Apparently there was nothing more worth observing in the room.

And like clockwork, that was when Haruhi decided to bust in through the door.

"Heey~ho!"

Is she trying to make that into her new catchphrase or something?

Haruhi burst in on the scene like Sherlock Holmes, literally. She was wearing that brown overcoat and that weird hat. She even had the pipe stuck in her mouth to complete the iconic image. And she still managed to look endearing.

Just where does she keep getting these outfits anyway?

"The game is afoot, dear Watson!" Haruhi uttered, taking the pipe out of her pursed lips to brandish it in my face.

So now I'm Watson, am I? As if being known as Kyon wasn't demeaning enough.

"Wipe that look off your face, we have a mystery to solve!"

"No, we don't," I said sternly.

"Hmm, I see the glasses have disappeared again…" Haruhi shot Nagato a brief scrutinizing look.

"Seriously, all I did was ask you how you were doing and then you noticed Nagato had her glasses on again. None of that should qualify as a mystery. I mean, we've done these kind of games with Koizumi, with actual fake murders! How could you possibly have jumped to such crazy conclusions over such trivial matters?!"

My protests were in vain of course, most things I say to her fall on deaf ears. You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now.

Haruhi scanned the clubroom, critically examining everyone and everything in it. She squinted with strenuous thought at random intervals, putting who knows what together in that crazy thing called her mind. She puffed on her pipe, sending out a stream of pink bubbles.

Sigh. Figures…

"Hmm… Yuki, why aren't you wearing your glasses again?" Haruhi asked, leaping to stand in front of Nagato while pulling out a magnifying glass with which to search for clues on Nagato's face, apparently. Just why does she feel the urge to put on such a show? We've solved 'mysteries' before, with lesser showmanship. Maybe she's just really bored.

"Glasses, Yuki! What happened?"

Nagato B stared at Haruhi, unfazed at all by the loud-voiced, rude girl. She then went to her bag and produced the case in which she'd placed her glasses. "Here."

"Ha!" Haruhi lunged at the case, pried it open roughly and studied the glasses like an alien artefact. She turned them around in her hands, looking at them from every angle imaginable. Then she popped them on herself, blinking as her eyes adjusted. "Hmm, not a very strong prescription. Are you sure you even need glasses?"

"No."

"So that's why you stopped."

"…Yes."

"Then why'd you put them on again?"

Haruhi's funny looking thoughtful squint through Nagato's glasses intensified as her bright eyes bore into the blank ones of Nagato B. Nagato just stared back silently.

"Well?" Haruhi asked keenly.

Oh boy, this is bad. Nagato B obviously had no idea such a mess would be born from merely going about business as Nagato would have at the start of all of this. But that wouldn't be enough anymore, we'd been through so much, all of us. Even Haruhi was starting to pick up on the more subtle changes that had occurred in Nagato.

"You're acting really weirdly, somehow… I don't know how exactly, but…"

And it was then that Koizumi jumped in and saved me from using the lamest excuse I had thought up to protect Nagato's secret. Haruhi already thinks I might have some freaky sexual deviations… Saying I had a thing for glasses would probably have caused more problems in the long run than solved any. She'd probably see through my lie anyway…

"Nagato-san was having a slight headache as she was reading, so I suggested using her glasses again."

Whew, sometimes I just love Koizumi.

"But of course, without Kyon's input on how he would like to see Nagato-san in glasses again, it might not have worked. A little change in scenery, I believe he called it, to liven things up."

And sometimes I just hate him.

Koizumi gave me that signature smirk of his. Sometimes I don't know whether he sincerely thinks he's helping me or just likes to screw with me. The bloody jerk…

"Hmph, I see…" Haruhi said, in that thoughtful pose I resent because of the pretentious air it emits, swapping glances between me and Nagato.

"Y-yes, it _is_ a nice change, once in a while, isn't it?" Asahina-san piped up uncertainly, probably feeling an urge to contribute to the discussion on some level.

"I suppose," Haruhi said pensively. She then gave me an odd glance. I'm not exactly sure what she was thinking, or possibly trying to convey. There was a certain aloofness to the look, a slightly cold feel, as her eyes bore into mine. There was something else as well, but what? Indignation? Hurt? No, went too far. But it certainly had a questioning edge to it.

"Okay, I might have jumped the gun here, sorry, everybody," Haruhi admitted glumly, visibly deflating as she turned her head up to look at the ceiling. Wow, this certainly was some atypically polite behaviour from her. "Mikuru?"

"Y-yes?"

"Take my coat and hat, and put them with the rest of the costumes… leave the pipe…"

"Yes, right away," Asahina-san answered obediently, stepping forth to take Haruhi's clothing.

While Haruhi quietly strode to her desk, puffing out a few bubbles as she went, Asahina-san went about putting her detective's outfit away.

"Should I change then?" Asahina-san asked, eyeing the maid's dress.

"No, not today," Haruhi muttered as she sat down. "You can all go, if you want to, that is."

Koizumi, Asahina-san and I exchanged questioning glances at Haruhi's solemn disposition. Nagato B just stood perfectly still, unfocused eyes not looking at anything in particular.

"Yes," Koizumi said rather uncertainly, "perhaps we should all go home for now."

He then gave me and the two other girls a subtle wink while nudging his head towards the door. Koizumi then opened the door. Asahina-san and Nagato filed out quietly, but I gave Haruhi one last look before exiting. Haruhi's head rested lazily on her supporting palm which in turn was braced against the table, while the other hand flicked at something small on the desk. Her lips were in a small pout, while her tongue moved around in her mouth, occasionally making a slight bulge against her cheeks or lips. Then, suddenly, she raised her head slightly and gave me a long look. Once again, I didn't really know what it meant; it seemed slightly bored, maybe even melancholic, but there it was again, that uncertain questioning edge to it again.

Koizumi coughed politely, breaking the link between me and Haruhi. She turned her focus back to her desk and began to pick at something on it. I turned away and walked out of the room with Koizumi in tow.

* * *

"So what exactly are we doing here?" I asked, giving the surroundings a suspicious look. We (the four of us, excluding Haruhi) had gathered in an empty room one floor below our clubroom. From the look of things, it hadn't been used in a long time. Dust was everywhere and there were a few cobwebs in the corners. Surplus desks and chairs were piled up against one of the walls.

"I'm worried," Koizumi stated flatly.

About what? Is it seriously too much to ask for a few specifics?

"About Suzumiya-san."

Then again, who else do our lives revolve around constantly?

"She seems rather down, don't you think?"

Oops, I was confused earlier, you're the Sherlock here.

"And we all know what happens then, don't we? I would rather avoid that, and so would most likely the rest of us," Koizumi said before he gave a sad grin, "And I've been having such a nice and relaxing time without her sealed realities."

Koizumi waved his head with fake gravitas, trying to both convey and hide just how worried he really was. Asahina-san was fidgeting in her cute manner, muttering something inaudible. Nagato B was once again examining a wall. She really didn't seem all that interested in anything we did. That's some observer.

And me, I took a good long moment to myself and sighed deeply. I think I can already see what's going to happen. Why is it always me?

"Suzumiya-san is acting in a manner none of us desire, and as we all know –"

"I'm closest to her. Yeah, yeah, yeah." I sighed.

"Exactly. Which is why, I think it would be in all our interests if you went back up and –"

"Found out what's bugging her." I sighed again.

"My, your practically reading my mind today, aren't you? We've obviously been spending far too much time together haven't we?" Koizumi asked with a furtive smile my way.

Cut it out. It's bad enough I have to deal with one kind of crazy today, please don't add to it.

And I still have no idea what to do about Nagato either.

"Don't worry, I've been meaning to have a more in-depth chat with our _new_ friend anyway. While you are up there, I won't allow the time to pass us in vain. I shall exert my capabilities to the fullest to determine if there is anything we can do about Nagato-san's predicament. I expect you to do likewise with Suzumiya-san."

It can't be healthy for a person to sigh this much.

"Right, I'm off then." I gave everyone a quick look before I departed. Nothing had changed, really: Koizumi still wore that masklike grin of his vigilantly, Asahina-san still looked nervous, even though she'd calmed down a bit and wasn't muttering anymore, and Nagato was… still staring at the wall.

"Why are you staring at the wall anyway, Nagato?" I hazarded the brief question before I would depart.

Koizumi and Asahina-san both turned around to look expectantly at Nagato along with me. Nagato turned her head a perfect 90 degrees slowly, her dark eyes taking all of us in with the precision of a laser.

Nagato raised her hand and pointed it at the wall. We all squinted to see what she was pointing at.

"Mold," she answered in her signature monotone.


	9. Chapter 9

I knocked hesitantly on the clubroom's door. This was oddly nerve-racking. I even gulped nervously.

"Enter," Haruhi's sombre voice came through the door with crystal clarity.

Like a misbehaving child being called up to see his stern father, I slowly opened the door. It creaked ominously. How annoying.

The room was surprisingly dark. There were no lights on, and the sunshine from the window had disappeared in a matter of minutes since I'd left. Dark clouds were gathering. The only real light source was the computer's monitor, lending the shadows a ghostly glow.

And Haruhi was nowhere to be seen.

"Haruhi?"

"What?!" an irritated Haruhi asked, head shooting up from behind the computer screen, her hair bouncing along with her head's sudden appearance. Apparently, she'd been hiding – no, that wasn't a fair assessment – apparently she'd been staring intently at the screen, merely hidden from my view.

It still made me jump in shock.

I also gave out a frightened yelp, but it was a manly one, I swear!

"Why are you screaming like a fresh babe?" Her brows furrowed suspiciously. "What are you doing here? I told you all to go home, didn't I? Do I need to clean your ears with a hippopotamus tail?"

"Uh, no, that won't be necessary."

"Hh?"

"_What_?"

"Grrm!"Haruhi gave me a nasty scowl.

"Look, I'm just here to…"

"Mrrh?!" She was starting to get really irritated by my behaviour. She had abandoned using actual words after all. It seemed they could no longer convey what she felt, so she had seemingly reverted to grunting like an animal.

"Ch!" Haruhi stood up straight, the chair behind her spinning on its axel at the sudden departure. Her eyes flashed in the dim glow in front of her.

Aww, man. This is so awkward… At least no one else is around.

"I just – want to – find out" – ohmanohmanohman – "how are – you – uh – doing?"

"Keh?!?"

"What's wrong?"

"…"

Haruhi just stared at me with a mixture of incredulous shock and ambivalent terror.

"Um, sorry?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head uneasily.

Haruhi collapsed back into her chair, her gaze never leaving me. Her shocked eyes had softened into a slightly questioning frown. She stared at me with an uncertainty I don't recall seeing in her eyes before… No wait, I _have_ seen it before. There have only been a handful of different times and places when I've gotten a proper glimpse at the person behind the eccentric smile and loud shouting. A girl tortured by a deep emptiness, a sadness not produced through negative feelings but cold, hard reasoning.

Some guy, a long time ago I guess, said we all wear masks. It's so true. The girl sitting at the far end of the room from me, confused by my presence, was probably the closest I'd ever get to the real Suzumiya Haruhi under that bubbly exterior she used to ward off what I could only assume were the haunting demons of nihilistic thoughts.

That's why she needed to find something wondrous, something amazing. That's why she needed strange friends. She needed to fill the void with something, to distract herself. She desperately wanted to live in denial. She's such a smart girl after all, how couldn't she have realized how empty and pointless everything was. She just wanted to go back to living in ignorance, in a little fantasy world where she was special.

And I can't really blame her, can I? Isn't that what we all want? I certainly did once, and then I… what did I do? Give up? Gave up my sense of wonder and adventure at coming to my own realizations about the world. But she'd given it back to me, she'd given me real adventures and wonders, even though she hadn't truly discovered anything she'd wanted for herself despite how relentlessly she searched for it, no matter how dubious she might actually be towards genuine mysterious happenings. It's actually pretty sad if you think about it…

"What's wrong?" Haruhi whispered quietly, breaking my reverie.

"Huh? I just…" My voice trailed off. I cleared my throat, it felt raspy and dry at the same time.

Wow, I really _do_ feel sorry for her, but unfortunately, we live in the real world where we have certain responsibilities to other people.

"You still haven't given me a proper answer, you know."

"About what?"

"About how you feel."

"Oh…"

We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

Then suddenly, Haruhi opened up in a silent voice, "I…"

Or so I had thought.

"I…"

"Yes?"

"I don't know!" Haruhi suddenly yelled as she stood up once again.

Huh?

"You happy now?!"

I stared at the suddenly angry girl with shock. There was just no getting through with her. She was so far behind that wall she'd built.

"What is your deal today anyway?!" Haruhi questioned me, striding around the tables until she stood right in front of me, glaring up at me. "Why do you keep poking your stupid-ass nose where it doesn't belong?!"

To be honest, I hadn't been betting on a reaction like this from her. I hadn't really known _what_ to expect coming in here to ask her how she was doing, but certainly wouldn't have bet on an angry verbal lashing.

"What do you want from me?!" Haruhi shouted. Her eyes still gleamed in the dark room, but otherwise, I couldn't really tell what was going on with her face. The weather had grown worse. It looked like a really serious storm was brewing; it was already starting to rain. The occasional tapping of drops of water against the windowpanes created an unsettling cacophony for me in the quiet room.

"I…" My voice failed me again. I didn't know what she wanted me to say, there was such a sudden intensity in her words, it completely and utterly shocked me. I don't think I've ever seen her like this, so angry, so… _truly_ emotional.

"What?! What do you want from me?" she asked me, her voice growing softer again.

I gulped nervously, feeling that much more was at stake here than I had originally thought.

"Tell me… I want to know… No, I n-" Haruhi suddenly halted in the middle of a word, sounding almost desperate. Her head dropped, hanging down limply. "Just tell me what you want."

"I want –"

The image of Nagato's fleeting look at me before she collapsed passed through my mind.

"Yes?" Haruhi's whisper came out as an anxious breath.

"I want everything to go back to normal."

Haruhi was silent, still staring at the floor between us.

"I want things to go back to the way they were the day before yesterday."

Haruhi remained perfectly still, like a statue of a hanged man, head drooping depressingly. Then she muttered, so inaudibly I was barely able to hear it, one word: "Fine."

She then pushed me aside, sending me flying into the wall next to us roughly, as she pelted for the door. Like the strong winds outside the complex, she darted through it, slamming it ferociously behind her.

And so, I was left alone in the dark room, with the door still swinging on its hinges, wondering what had just happened, and if I'd just made a terrible mistake.


	10. Chapter 10

Walking down the hall, then the stairs, and then back to room on the other floor was the longest walk I've ever had. My legs felt like they were attached to several kilos of lead as I dragged them slowly across the floors. The tiles on the floor I stared at throughout the journey were a little comforting. The lines that formed perfect squares on the surface lead me down a straight line I don't think I could have made on my own in my present condition.

_Haruhi…_

Just… just what had happened? I still couldn't really understand. Her enigmatic behaviour still confused me as much as it had in that dark room. In fact, now that I think about it, since the very beginning it's been like that. But this was the first time I had actually felt at fault for not understanding. Before, it had been easy to scoff at her ludicrous ideas, thinking that she was just silly that way and it was none of my business. But now – now I felt like I had betrayed a sacred trust. For the first time in my life, I can say with absolute certainty, that my heart actually felt heavy.

I think I could read a bunch of poetry from the likes of T.S. Eliot and fully understand it now.

"Ouch." I'd bumped my drooping head on the door of the room in which the others were waiting. I rubbed my sore forehead tenderly. This day was just turning out _perfect_, wasn't it? As if I wasn't in a foul enough mood already…

"Who's there?" the calm, collected voice of Koizumi rang through the door and the foggy grogginess of my mind, like a bullet through molasses.

_I just wanna go home…_

"It's me," I could hear myself say in a depressed voice. It was like my body was on autopilot while my mind had found a corner to sulk in.

"Come in," Koizumi said with a newfound urgency in his voice.

I stared at the door's handle, watching the blurry reflection of myself I saw in it. It took a moment for my memory to reboot, telling me how to open the door. Every thought seemed to have slowed down, probably to prevent the more damaging ones from gaining a way out of my subconscious into the blurry numbness I felt.

As I entered the room, my entrance was met with two worried faces and one blank one.

"What?" I asked them, starting to feel extremely apprehensive.

"What did you do?" Koizumi asked, his smirk far gone.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Immediately I feared the worst. How did they know about what we –

"A reality warping occurrence was registered 2 minutes and 13 seconds ago," Nagato B impassively informed me.

"Huh?"

"I felt it too," Koizumi said. "I've never felt something quite like it. It was like a sealed reality, but only for a brief moment, but even then, it was far stronger than any I've felt before. It was… big."

"I received a report of temporal fluctuations as well," Asahina-san added, looking very worried indeed, but she wasn't fidgeting anymore. She stood straight, with a determined yet grim look on her pretty face.

I averted my eyes from their collective gaze.

"And what does all of that _mean_ exactly?"

"Suzumiya-san has in some way, a rather significant way, changed reality. So far, none of us has any idea exactly how, and seeing as we are all still here, it must've merely been an adjustment, but of what magnitude is impossible to say," Koizumi answered vaguely, stepping forth.

"Aha, I see." For some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to care all that much about this.

"And since this adjustment occurred during or after your discussion with her, we would like to know if she said anything that might help us deduce what she might have changed."

"Well… I'm not really sure… she was kind of upset, I guess."

"You guess?" Koizumi gave me an incredulous look.

"Hey, it was dark." I defended myself lamely.

"Continue please."

"And when she left, I think she was angry at me or something."

"I see…" Koizumi got in my least favourite, pretentious thinking position, casually tapping a finger against his chin. "I think I should have asked instead, what did _you_ say or do to her?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

We're back to this again?

"Well, you must have obviously upset her in some way. She was rather melancholic when we left her, but then angry after meeting you again. You must have done _something_."

Oh great, now I have to tell these three everything. Fantastic. I'm really starting to get annoyed by the lack of a private life. Nagato knows pretty much everything about everything, Asahina-san has probably been debriefed about me since they most likely have stuff in a file on me in the future, Koizumi's always giving me little psychological evaluations by asking me questions which he thinks I'll mistake for typical chitchat, and _Haruhi _is always invading my life with phone calls about meetings and other stupid things. Can't I keep anything to myself? Can't I live my own life for just a while with no apocalyptic or mysterious events? I'd even settle for the usual insanity of everyday life with the Brigade.

Sigh. Who am I kidding? Deep down, I probably enjoy this a lot more than I would an existence without them. But right now, I sure as hell don't feel that way. I've had enough for one day. Can I just go home now, please?

"Kyon-kun, please, we need to know," Asahina-san asked, hands crossed as if in prayer.

Damn it, how could I say no with that desperate look in her eyes?

"I told her – I told her I wanted things to go back to normal, like they were the day before yesterday."

The three stared at me silently, both Koizumi and Asahina-san giving me slightly worried looks while Nagato B just stared expressionlessly at me.

"Nothing else?" Koizumi asked.

"No, before that, I'd only asked her what was going on, if something was wrong, like you guys told me to."

"Hmm… perhaps a bit too direct for my taste, but you are closest to her, after all…" Koizumi mused half-heartedly, massaging the bridge of his nose. "And then she got angry?"

"Yeah, she seemed almost hurtful." I rubbed the back of my head guiltily. "She asked me what I wanted, and then I told her I wanted things to go back to the way they were the day before yesterday, that's when she _really _got mad. She pushed me into a wall as she ran out."

Koizumi and Asahina-san traded apprehensive looks. They obviously knew more than they were letting on.

"What?" I asked in an irritated voice.

"I think I'm starting to see a connection here…" Koizumi said, "Suzumiya-san calls a meeting about your behaviour and Nagato's, and then you repeat your earlier strange behaviour, after which you tell her you want things to go back to normal, like they were earlier, before your different approach to her."

Maybe I just wasn't in the right state of mind at the moment, but I couldn't understand at all what Koizumi was implying. Most of my thought processes were focused on my home, where my bed was, into which I could crawl into and hide from the light under the covers.

Koizumi sighed. "Sometimes I really wonder about you, Kyon. You have such a weird approach to life and people."

What is he talking about? I'm perfectly normal. I'm the every-guy, the average Joe! The loser stuck in extraordinary circumstances, forced to meet and solve problems even the mystical forces he encounters can't handle as he grows up during it all from a boy to a man!

"Look, if it's all right with you guys, I'd really just like to go home…" I said.

"You're not worried, Kyon-kun?" Asahina-san asked with wide eyes.

"About Haruhi destroying the world or something? No. I really don't think she'd do something like that anymore, just because she's angry with me. She actually does care about us, all of us, I think. She'll be back…"

"Perhaps… but even you don't sound perfectly sure," Koizumi said, still lacking that stupid smirk of his.

"With Haruhi, I don't think I'll ever be a 100% sure of anything," I said with a small grin. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going home. It looks like it's stopped raining." I pointed at the world beyond the window, where rays of light penetrated the thick clouds. Koizumi and Asahina-san looked too, both amazed at the sudden change of weather. Nagato B was still staring at me, in fact, I don't think she's moved a single muscle since she spoke last. She's like a perfect statue.

I decided to merely let them wonder at the changes by themselves (except maybe the new Nagato, she seemed to be even less fazed than the regular Nagato would have been by theses events, at least Nagato would have offered some input). I turned away and walked to the door, turning the handle so I could finally escape from this hellish day. There didn't seem to be anything more I could do anyway. Nagato was still not back to her old self and Haruhi had already left.

Finally, I'll get some peace of mind, at least for a short while. I'll get back to this madness tomorrow and try to fix it, but I just can't handle anymore at the moment.

As I opened the door, something even stranger than anything that had occurred in the past two days was waiting for me on the other side.

"No, it can't be!"

Koizumi and Asahina-san gasped as one as they noticed the same thing I had.

Standing in front of me in the hallway, was none other than Nagato Yuki, staring impassively back at me.


	11. Chapter 11

I nearly broke my neck as I turned my head around with all the speed I could muster to look behind me. There she was, Nagato, behind me where I had left her. I turned my head around again, only to see Nagato staring back at me, standing in front of me, blocking my way out of the room.

I don't think I can take much more of this…

"Wah… What are you…?" I stammered at the Nagato in front of me.

She raised her head slightly to look me in the eyes, and cocked her head a bit.

It can't be! It's –

"According to local time, I appear to have lost 27 hours, 42 minutes and 13 seconds of my memories between this moment and when you and I were in the same location on the school's field the previous day. This is an inconsistency I would like to resolve with your aid."

"N-Nagato?" Asahina-san stuttered, her eyes as wide as saucers, her head kept turning back and forth between the Nagato in the doorway and the one in the room with her. "W-what's going on?"

"Another one?" Koizumi asked curiously, wearing a smile that was slightly ruined by a twitch at the corners of his mouth. "I see…"

Bullshit, no you don't! You're just as lost and confused as the rest of us are!

The Nagato in front of me continued staring at me, and somehow, I could just tell that she was the real deal.

"What happened? How did you get back? I thought you were away sick – well, kinda."

Nagato blinked. She then turned her head and noticed B. Nagato walked soundlessly past me and stopped right in front of B. Both of the Nagatos just stared at each other with their subzero stares.

Then Nagato turned to face me, expression still unchanged although she'd just met a perfect replica of herself… or was she the replica? Hadn't there merely been a mindswap?

"I do not understand," Nagato stated plainly.

Huh? Oh, you _gotta_ be kidding me!

"You were unaware of the personality transfer?" Koizumi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"…Yes." Nagato gave Koizumi a critical look. "Please, tell me more."

"Well, you see –" I started off but was cut off by Nagato B.

"This unit's personality encountered a systematic error, becoming unable to fully operate under normal conditions. The failsafe programs were initiated to protect the unit and its social interactions. The previous thought patterns and memories the unit had acquired were transferred for proper analysis and program repair. Diagnostics are still in progress…" Nagato B gave Nagato what could be seen as a deadly glare among the Nagatos (nothing most people would even notice). "You should not be here. You are endangering the mission. I am your replacement until orders to the contrary are received. You will vacate this realm of physicality immediately and seek assistance according to the proper protocols in the data stream networks or be terminated."

… What?! Just hold up a moment here!

"I am here as per my orders, sanctioned by the Integrated Data Sentient Entity. I have not received orders pertaining to my release. I am operating within the parameters set forth in my original orders. No error other than a loss of personal time has occurred. There is no need for a backup personality. I am fully capable of carrying out my mission. It is you who are endangering the mission," Nagato said, with a stare that could have easily gone past -273.15 C degrees in its coldness (nothing all that different from normal again, but for me, that furrowing of the eyebrows that could only be measured in nanometres was very impressive).

The two Nagatos stood face to face, little noses almost touching. The sudden tension in the room was so electrifying I think we could have solved the world's energy crisis simply by cracking open the window. Asahina-san's eyes were practically popping out of her skull while she trembled in the scary atmosphere. Even the usually collected Koizumi was gritting his teeth, his perfectly white teeth gnashing together roughly.

"Localized data-lockup initiated," the two Nagatos said swiftly in perfect synch.

The faint glow from the window suddenly disappeared. Then complete darkness covered us. A darkness darker than even night, it went past a lack of light until it became its own force, heavy on my shoulders like gravity.

Then slowly, I could see again. I was inside a rectangle, the walls glowing a faint blue with which I could make out shapes. A perfect grid of squares roughly 10 centimetres covered all surfaces, the lines appearing to be the source of light as they faintly glowed against the dark walls surrounding me.

I think we were still in the same room, it certainly had the same dimensions, but all the furniture had disappeared.

I then felt something squeezing my arm tightly. I turned my head and noticed that it was Asahina-san holding onto my arm with both of her hands in the faint light. She held her face against my shoulder with her eyes tightly shut. Woah… Every time she gets close to me like this I think I can feel my heart skip a few beats.

"Aah!! Wah-what's g-going on?!" she squeaked like a mouse.

"My word, what's that over there?" I heard Koizumi's voice on my other side. How'd he gotten over there?

I turned to see what was so mysterious and saw Koizumi pointing at a bright spot in the middle of the gridded rectangle. I hadn't noticed the almost pure white light because it didn't seem to give off any glow. It was just a bright spot but around it, the familiar darkness remained the same, encasing the light.

I could hear unrealistically fast muttering now and it seemed to be coming from the bright spot. It was Nagato's space code magic. This was almost like that time Asakura had tried to kill me and Nagato had saved me.

The light started to fade, becoming dimmer, as it revealed the two Nagatos still standing face to face. It was an odd sight; the light seemed to be coming from their bodies and their hair and clothing billowed as if a strong wind was blowing them. And throughout all of this, the fast paced muttering that sounded almost like a rewinding tape continued, from both of them, in seemingly perfect harmony.

This was bad, I could just tell. They were fighting weren't they? I worriedly looked at Asahina-san, worried if a similar bloody fight as the other one I'd experienced between data interfaces waited for us. Last time, Nagato had been severely injured as she was forced to protect just me, and now there were three of us. Would Nagato B resort to such cheap tricks? If she really was like Nagato when I'd first met her, I found it highly unlikely, but I still felt fearful.

Both of the Nagatos fair skin softened to a glow through which we could see their features, not that anything besides the flowing clothes and hair had changed, only their lips quivered with superhuman speed.

"What is this?" Koizumi asked, transfixed by the two glowing girls, just like I was.

"I think… I think they're fighting…"

"Fighting?"

"Yeah, using that space magic of theirs, altering data. I think they're trying to lock each other out so they can delete the other or something."

"…Amazing…"

The air around the two identical girls seemed to warp and twist around on itself. The temperature began to rise and Asahina-san held on to my arm even tighter, cutting off my circulation to my fingers.

Suddenly the Nagatos both took a step back into a low, wide stance, pulling back an arm, ready for what looked like a punch. Like mirror images the girls stood, still muttering indistinguishably, until they both threw a punch, their fists colliding.

Even though I was expecting a loud bang, all sound seemed to disappear with the collision. I couldn't even hear my own excited breathing or the pounding of my racing heart anymore. But there was a brilliant flash of light. It filled the room, burning my eyes. I'm not sure if I was able to close my eyes, since the white intensity seemed to be there no matter what I tried.

When the white brilliance finally disappeared, we were back in the room, complete with the window on the far side and surplus desks against the walls, with even the spider webs back in their corners.

The Nagatos stood still in the centre of it all… no, they weren't standing anymore, they didn't have the legs to do so. Two bodies floated in the air with no legs, slowly growing smaller as what appeared to be small particles falling from their bodies. As the pair disintegrated, the inexistent wind blew away the particles until they disappeared from sight.

"Nagato?" I asked hesitantly.

The one I knew to be the real Nagato turned her head to look back at me over her shoulder. She gave me a melancholic look that ripped my guts apart inside.

"I'm sorry… we couldn't… go to the… library again, today…"

"No! Don't say that!" I shouted desperately as Nagato's hands began to break apart along with her hips. The process was getting faster.

I tried to move, but my legs were frozen in place. No matter how much I tried to will it, they wouldn't budge. I was frozen solid by fear.

Asahina-san started sobbing against my sleeve. Apparently she'd mustered the courage to look at the world again, only to find one of her friends disintegrating.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Koizumi trembling. I guess he was suffering the same fate as me. He stood wide-eyed, mouth agape at the disappearing Nagato.

"Good… bye…" Nagato whispered as the dematerialization suddenly jumped past her shoulders and up her neck.

The two floating heads of Nagato and her copy disappeared so instantaneously into sand like fragments that it seemed like they dissipated as wholes.

The final particles left behind by the two identical girls swirled around the place where they had stood, until they too vanished from my sight, leaving nothing but the empty room with us behind.

"Yuki!" I screamed, finally managing to raise a quivering hand towards the spot where the taciturn girl had stood.


	12. Chapter 12

She was gone. Nagato Yuki had disappeared. Once and for all. Nothing remained.

But she'd only just come back to us!

"No!" I shouted with impotent disbelief. This can't be happening!

I ran to the spot where the two Nagatos had been in the room, ripping myself free from Asahina-san's hold on my arm. I looked around frantically for something, anything! There had to be something left! Some sort of clue she had left behind to help me, like she always did.

This couldn't be the end, it just couldn't!

I collapsed onto my knees, hands shaking uncontrollably. I felt nothing. I couldn't understand.

It's all wrong! I can't understand!

WHY?!

Against the screaming in my head, I suddenly started hearing Asahina-san's frantic sobbing. Koizumi was saying something, but I couldn't make sense of anything he was saying. I couldn't make sense of any of it.

My trembling fingers felt the ground on which Nagato had stood, like a blind man, I searched for something familiar, something that would tell me where I was and where I was to go from here.

She couldn't be dead… could she?

Maybe if…

She…

What if…

I suddenly knew exactly what I needed to do, who I needed. Only one person could help save Nagato. Only _she_ had the power to bring Nagato back.

I stood up on shaky legs, determination slowly returning with my sense of balance. Nagato was gone, I'd seen it with my own two eyes. She was… dead. And there was only one thing I knew in this world that had the power to save her. The power of God. If she had been the start of this whole mess, she would be the end of it as well. My alpha and omega. My little walking, talking Deus Ex Machina. She could fix – she _would_ fix this. I would make her if I had to.

I turned around, beginning my slow and unsteady march towards the door, towards my goal. That was when Koizumi grabbed my arm, and I finally heard him.

"– just happened? Is she… gone… for good? Do you have any idea –"

"No. I gotta go," I mumbled. I pulled on Koizumi's hand, but his grip around my arm only tightened.

"Huh? Where? What's going on?" Koizumi looked genuinely worried. No stupid grin. Good to see that stupid mask come off occasionally.

I could properly feel my legs again. Koizumi was making me think again. His hold on me drove the shock and confusion out of my mind by steering another emotion to take their place: anger.

"Let go. I gotta go," I said sternly, once again pulling on his arm.

Koizumi held on tightly, his brows furrowing in determination. "No, wait. Tell me what's going on. Where do you intend to go, after" – he pointed at the spot where Nagato had stood without taking his eyes off me – "seeing _this_ happen? Just what are you thinking?"

"I'm gonna get her back. I'm gonna save Nagato."

"How?"

"Haruhi."

That single word caused Koizumi to squeeze my hand so tightly I lost circulation to my fingers for a second time that day. But I pushed through the pain like an ox.

"You… you can't," Koizumi stumbled with his words for a moment, a chill in his eyes and voice that would have horrified me under normal conditions because it had never happened before. He must be in shock as well. But right now, all I felt was anger, a deep irritation at the obstacle holding me back. "You can't go to Haruhi. She mustn't find out about us, if she does, the repercussions could be disastrous. We have no idea how she will react."

"I know. Now let me go!" I shouted at him.

"No, I can't in good conscience. Nagato is… was my friend too, but we can't jeopardize the whole world just for her sake. None of us can be that important."

"Let. Me. Go!"

"Does she really mean that much to you? Would you really risk everything for her?"

No more words, I'd had enough. I needed to do something. Even so, what happened next almost shocked me as much as it probably did Koizumi.

The sound of my fist cracking against Koizumi's cheek was deafening, silencing all sound in the room: Koizumi's incessant nagging, my deep, agitated breathing and even the distant crying of Asahina-san.

Koizumi's grip on my arm loosened as he fell backwards onto the ground. He sat there on the ground, eyes wide with shock, holding his cheek tenderly. If the circumstances were less dire, I might have laughed at the incredulous look on his face. Now I just stood over Koizumi, breathing hard, my anger and energy spent after the blow. The anger was gone now, at least for a moment, as I looked at Koizumi with deep disbelief.

"K-Kyon-kun?" Asahina-san's weak voice wafted through my hazy brain. I turned to look at her, seeing an equally stunned and frightened look in her deep eyes.

"I – I'm sorry," I muttered, turning my head down, averting my guilty gaze from her.

"No," Koizumi said weakly, "There's no need… I guess you really are a true friend. I only wish you would be as willing to save me if something ever did happen to me."

And I'd thought I had been shocked before. I just punched you in the face and now you're… I can't believe it.

I looked at him, sitting there, massaging his cheek, but with a smile on his reddening face. It was a genuine smile, one of those rare ones he ever gives. It was so sincere, I almost gasped in surprise.

"Go. Save our friend. Hnh, if Nagato-san truly has disappeared, I doubt Suzumiya-san would go long without noticing and giving pursuit in any case," Koizumi said, removing his hand from his injured face, waving a goodbye with it as he continued smiling at me. "If anyone can save Nagato-san and stop Suzumiya-san from ending the world as a result, it's you. Good luck."

"Koizumi, I…"

Damn it, you jerk, you're almost making me cry here.

"Kyon-kun," Asahina-san said softly, instantly drawing my attention to her beautifully tear streamed face, "Do it."

I held my mouth shut tightly, swallowing away my deeply touched thoughts. I looked at both of them and nodded. "Okay… thank you."

"Hey, we're the SOS-Brigade, through thick and thin," Koizumi said earnestly.

"We stick together, no matter what," Asahina-san said, nodding her head vigorously.

I couldn't take anymore, so I turned and ran out of the room, through the corridors, jumping down a flight of stairs, streaming through doors and the yard out into the streets. Invigorated by the fighting spirit of my comrades, I made it all the way to the familiar place where we had met for our first Brigade scavenger hunt, from where Nagato and I had once left to go to the library together. It was only there that I realized something that filled me with a great deepening sense of dismay.

I still had no idea where Haruhi lived.


	13. Chapter 13

If I had to, I would ring every doorbell and knock on every door, look in every building, even in the sewers of the city to find Haruhi. Noting would stop me from finding Haruhi on my quest to save Nagato.

Like a mad man, I actually _did_ start running down the streets, splashing the occasional puddle, stopping at the doors of random houses, desperately searching for the name Suzumiya on plaques and mailboxes. It took me a long while of aimless wondering until I realized, after cooling down while running around in the darkening evening, that we lived in the modern age and there were far easier ways of finding a person.

Stupid, stupid, stupid hothead! Just calm down and think! Don't think about Nagato disintegrating in front of you. That look in her eyes, just before – NO!

I pulled out my cell phone, intending to call a number service – Oh wait! I have her number in my phone's memory, don't I? – only to find its battery's dead. Figures…

Okay, think, don't panic. Nagato – No! - think! If you want to find someone… how about a phone book? I've got enough spare change to even make a call if I need to from a pay phone. If I find the Suzumiya residence's number, I can call her to come meet me. Heh, this time it'll be me bothering _her_ with phone calls at inappropriate hours (a thought that slightly warmed me up in the cool outdoors of the evening).

There's gotta be a booth around here somewhere… Where am I anyway?

That's the park over there, where Asahina-san has taken me so often, with the benches and time travel. It's a public spot, there's bound to be a booth around there somewhere.

I jogged towards the park, only now starting to feel tired by the exertions of the day. My legs had started to ache from all the running about and my lungs were burning from lack of oxygen. I'm not really in the best of shape for something like this.

But all the physical tiredness was nothing compared to the fatigue of my mind. Just during this day, I'd been put on an emotional rollercoaster with everyone I knew, from Nagato to Haruhi and Koizumi and Asahina-san in between. And then – and then – no, don't think about the past, focus on the future.

Damn it, where are the phone booths! I see them everywhere when I don't need them and now…

I slowly jogged through the park, nearing my favourite bench, head revolving like an owl's, searching for my own unique type of prey. It was then that I noticed something astonishing: my first bit of luck that day.

Haruhi was sitting on my favourite bench, quietly staring up at the emerging stars of the evening, uncaring of the world around her, even the footsteps of my approach against the path.

It was only when I stood next to her, doubled over and wheezing, that she noticed something was wrong and turned to look at me, indescribable amazement colouring her pretty face.

"K-Kyon, what are _you_ doing here?" Haruhi croaked, sliding along the bench, away from me in shock. "I thought you were a rapist or something for a moment there."

"No" – more wheezing from me – "worries there."

Haruhi huffed indignantly, before she turned to look at the dark skies again.

"I'd ask you what you're doing here, all sweaty and panting, late in the evening, but I really don't care." Haruhi gave me a brief sideways scowl before she returned to stargazing. "Now go. I'm not in the mood to deal with stupid jerks."

"Haruhi… please, I need to talk to you… again."

Oh boy… No! This is no time to feel embarrassed, squeamish. You're here with a mission, remember – Nagato's floating head passed through my mind – No, don't remember. Just keep focused… on her.

"Get lost, you platypus fart. You're really annoying," Haruhi said angrily, still looking upwards, but I could tell she wasn't focusing on the stars anymore.

"Haruhi, remember when I said I wanted things to go back to normal?"

"…Yes," Haruhi said, now sounding surprisingly apprehensive all of a sudden.

"I… can we just forget everything that's happened between us over the past few days? Go back properly? I'd really like that, you know, before all the craziness that happened," I said, standing up and smiling softly, hoping that that would be enough.

All it takes is to guide her subconscious in the right direction, right? That's what happened earlier, when Nagato came back, isn't it? So all I have to do is make her want to return to the state of affairs previous to Nagato's disappearance. Then Nagato would return once again, just like that.

But alas, Haruhi seemed to only get angrier than ever before at this. She finally turned to look at me properly, her eyes seething with what I took to be a deep hate.

"So you wanna go back, huh? Before you asked me things, before you wanted to get to know me better? Is that it? Before _I_ wanted to know more about you? Before I asked you what _you_ wanted? Before all the _craziness_?" Haruhi stood up, fists clenched tightly and shaking by her sides. The venom in her voice hurting me almost as deeply as the pained, angry loneliness shining from her eyes.

Oops. What did I do wrong now?

"All I wanted was to have fun! Friends I could depend on, who would stand by my side, no matter what everyone else thought about me! I know people think I'm crazy or something and most of the time I don't care! But sometimes I do, I can't help it, and it hurts! How would you like it? Those constant sneering looks and condescending voices, always belittling you! It hurts sometimes! But then I have you guys! We – we have so much fun together! I finally feel special – no, _happy_! All the cool things we've done… And now you tell me you want to go back to before the _craziness_? The craziness that is _me_?!"

"No, Haruhi I – I just want to go back, please. Just two days, okay? That's all, I swear."

"Don't lie." She looked crossly at me.

"I'm not."

"You think I'm crazy too, admit it."

"Well at times… you do act pretty strangely, but…"

Haruhi's head lowered along with her brows, the dangerous glare only deepening.

"Look, I just want go back and get back some… normalcy… You wouldn't believe what I've been through today with you and the Brigade." What should I do? How could I make her understand me? Was this it? Would I have to reveal everything I knew to Haruhi at last, using my trump card? Would I doom the world? Save a friend? Or even lose another?

Haruhi, angrily: "_Normal_?! So… you wanna go back further, have everything back to 'normal', maybe before you ever met _me_, right? With your boring school and stupid life and Taniguchis and Kunikidas?! Well, fine by me, you can go to hell for all I care! The twelfth level, just for you! Where maggots will eat your ears and Cerberus will bite your ass off, leprechauns will kick you in the privates, your tongue will be sprinkled with a never ending fountain of super mega hot sauce, and you'll come back fully regenerated every minute, so it can all happen again and again and again and again!! Just as you deserve, you traitorous dog!! Oath breaker!! The Brigade has no need for weak hearted infidels like you!"

When she got like this, there were probably only two sure ways to shut her up. One involved a name drop and then a lot of explaining and convincing about time travel I didn't have any time for (I think there's some irony there), while the other one was more satisfying and horrifying at the same time, not to mention faster. Nothing else could probably affect her as deeply as it would. I placed my hands around her face and –

I kissed Haruhi, my lips silencing her angry speech as her lips came to a grinding halt against mine.

I stared into her shocked eyes, which slowly lost their sharp, focused anger at me. The hate in her melted away with the intimate contact, along with my own anxieties and worries for the day. For a moment, nothing but Haruhi and I remained in the world.

A gentle breeze blew past us, causing Haruhi's hair to billow over her now half lidded eyes, staring almost dreamily back at my own.

When our lips parted, she whispered with a soft smile, "There's no going back now, is there?"

I didn't know what to say, I was so messed up at the moment. I was thrilled. I was horrified. I was sick with worry. I was giddy with excitement. I was angry at the world. I was in deep mourning for a lost friend. I was on a mission to save that friend, willing to do anything.

I had no idea what I was really doing, and even less about why I was doing it. But I knew one thing for certain: I had to save Nagato, I couldn't just give up now.

"No, Haruhi… we _have_ to go back."

"Bu – why?" Haruhi asked, sounding hurtfully confused now.

I hate myself so much right now for some reason. I took a deep breath, preparing myself mentally, as I lowered my hands down to grip Haruhi by the shoulders.

"Haruhi, I wouldn't trade our time together in the SOS-Brigade for anything, trust me, I've lived the alternative. I want to go back to the time with Asahina-san in her cute costumes, serving tea; with Koizumi's plastic smile, always losing to me at stupid games; with Nagato… with Nagato reading her books; and you, you leading us on crazy adventures, filling all our lives with so much trouble and excitement and fantasy and purpose. If I lost any of you, I'd go crazy. _That's_ what I don't want to change, ever. So please, Haruhi, can we go back? Can you go back to being my SOS-Brigade Commander?"

I let her go, taking a step back. I couldn't do any more could I? If this didn't work, I'm not sure if anything would. Maybe I really would have to use my ace in the hole, but there was no guarantee that it would work, and I was even more dubious about its results if it did work. Haruhi needed to want to return to the way things were a few days back, all by herself, otherwise it wouldn't work at all.

Haruhi cocked her head, looking almost lost, thinking deeply, holding a closed fist to her chest. Suddenly she broke into the warmest, most unadulterated smile on her beautiful face I'd ever seen. "Sure, Kyon, whatever you want."

And with those words my heart soared with wings of hope. My, I've never felt this happy! I feel like writing poems and running through the streets, proclaiming my happiness. Step aside Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad, there's a new prophet of happiness and peace in the world, his heart overflowing with transcendent joy!

"Thank you, Haruhi." I took her hand and held it tightly, until the dark night descended upon us, although even its darkness and coldness couldn't drive away our glee.

We remained like that for a long while – I have no idea how long exactly – just staring into each other's eyes. Both comforted by the knowledge that nothing would change between us, that we'd go on several more adventures, that we'd be okay.

* * *

Eventually Haruhi had departed, saying she already had something schemed up for all of us the following day. I was so happy, that is, until I realized that I wasn't entirely sure if all of us would be there tomorrow to take part in her insane escapades.

Had I succeeded? Was Nagato back among us? The chill of the night crept through my clothes suddenly. Before, with Haruhi, I hadn't even noticed how chilly it had gotten. Now, all alone with my doubts, the shadows seemed longer and more dreadful.

What was I going to do? Had Haruhi worked her magic? I couldn't tell. Maybe I would have to go and find Koizumi or Asahina-san, they'd known about the earlier reality warp after all. I wonder if they were still at the school… No that'd be stupid. Despite the confident things they had told me, I bet their both fearing the world's going to end, huddled under their sheets by now… poor Asahina-san…… What time _is_ it anyway?

I checked my watch. Ten minutes to midnight. Huh, now that's kind of ominous isn't it? It's at times like these, in those clichéd stories, that something strange and bizarre happens, foreshadowing something miraculous at midnight.

_Can you hear me?_

Huh? Who said that?

The voice was weak and distorted, as if coming through a bad connection on an ancient radio system.

I turned around, craning to see the voice I'd heard, but in the dark park, with all those shadows everywhere, it could have come from anywhere.

_Can you hear me?_

"Uhm, yes?" I gave a nearby tree a suspicious look.

_It's me…_

Suddenly, I recognised that weak monotone, over what I thought was static interference.

Yuki?!

_Yes_.

You – you're – you're back! – You're – inside my head! I can't believe this, you're back!

_To a certain extent, I was never really gone. I exist as a mere data entity at the moment, lacking a physical interface. I am using careful manipulation of your cerebral synapses in the area of language interpretation to facilitate communication._

What happened to you?

_After attempting deletion of my unauthorised copy, an unknown risk factor, both of our interfaces were damaged beyond repair. We are both currently taking the next step in protocol if our physical interfaces were to be terminated. New interfaces are being constructed at a safe location._

Safe location?

_My place of residence._

Can I… make sure you're okay? Can I come see you?

_As a matter of fact, I require your assistance._

Anything, Nagato. You wouldn't believe half of the things I've already done to get you back.

_As I stated before, I was not gone, my physical interface merely disintegrated. Both me and my copy were attempting the deletion of the other, but because of our identical processing power, neither one gained the advantage. Neither one succeeded in deleting the other. Now we are both building new interfaces, at exactly the same speed. Then the deletion process will be reattempted, with a high probability for similar results. I fear we will remain deadlocked for an eternity unless an external factor is introduced. This is why I require your assistance._

Anything.

_You must delay my copy's reconstruction process. My residence will be free for you to gain access upon entering. You will find us both there. Delay her interface's reconstruction, and I shall take care of the rest._

Okay.

_Ending transmission._

Wait, Nagato! Nagato! Are you still there?

Nothing.


	14. Chapter 14

I couldn't believe it, Nagato was back! Hot damn, I feel like doing a little jig. I'm all grins tonight, aren't I?

Well almost. I still had a few concerns, so let's start off with the first and least problematic one.

Had Nagato never really been gone? Had I done it all for nothing?

I touched my lips carefully, remembering the warm feel of Haruhi's lips against mine, the stimulating fragrance of her hair and the calm, warm, satisfied look in her deep eyes.

No, it hadn't all gone to waste, I think. Nagato was coming back and Haruhi wasn't pissed off at me anymore.

Heh, I think I might have had worse days. And this time it wasn't a dream.

Or was it?

Sigh. You know things are bad when you're not sure if what's happening to you is real or not.

Ah, whatever, she's back! She's back! _She's back!_ Who cares how?

Everything was finally going according to plan, except…

As I jogged towards Nagato's apartment, I realized I'd rather been ignoring an important fact. It was understandable, since I was just so jubilant about Nagato's return, but this could be a major concern. Nagato B was still around and kicking, from what I could tell. She made me nervous, I don't know why. She's just Vanilla Nagato after all, with no added toppings. She's not evil or anything, right? And yet, Nagato wants me to delay her return to her body… how? And then she's going to "delete" her? Just exactly what does that entail anyway? Death? Can these data entities even die?

I'd never asked Nagato to elaborate on what had happened to Asakura, mainly because I was just so relieved to be alive after my last encounter with her. But now… what had happened to the cute girl with an even cuter smile and murderous intent to match a serial killer? Had she died? Had Nagato killed her?

I had reached Nagato's apartment complex. All the lights were off by now, only adding to the spooky feeling in my gut. It was like hungry weasels were fighting over whatever was left from my lunch, several hours ago. Maybe I was just hungry. Yeah, that's right, just hungry, that's it. It's not the fear of unexpected disaster, the prospect of ending Nagato B's….

Gulp.

I tried the main door, and sure enough, it was open for me. The hallway was darker than the outside air, only adding to my anxiety. What was going to happen? More importantly, what was I going to do once I reached Nagato's apartment? How far was I willing to go to save a friend? _What am I about to do??_

After the race up the stairs, I came to a grating halt in front of Nagato's door, frozen in my place for the moment, by my over imaginative mind. Nothing was going to go wrong. Nagato was here now, she'd make sure everything was fine, she always did. All I had to do was…was… delay reconstruction…

The door handle turned easily, the lock clicked, the door slid open soundlessly. I was in. Nothing had changed in Nagato's spartan room. What little furniture she had was still where it had been from the beginning, while the distant light of the stars filled the room with an eerie quality. It's as quiet as a crypt, everything seems like it's muffled by stale air that hasn't been disturbed for years. I feel like I'm in a horror movie.

I walked into the main room, where I had sipped tea such a long time ago. Guilt panged in my nervous, frightened mess of a stomach. I should have come here more often, knowing what I know about Nagato. She must be so lonely. I just forget so easily, seeing her so impassive all the time, just reading her books.

I surveyed the room, wondering how the Nagatos were getting back. I saw nothing out of place. Maybe they're in the bedroom…

Nagato's bedroom, now there was a place of ambivalent thoughts for me. For starters, a girl's bedroom is usually a sanctified place where a guy like me should have no place in, so naturally, I had been apprehensive about entering it the first time. And that had been together with Asahina-san, following instructions from Nagato herself. She'd told us to sleep in her bed, together – whew, I still get all flustered thinking about it – where we'd taken a short nap that had taken three years in suspended animation.

Now I had different qualms about entering the room, but I had to go in and check. It'd be insane to have gone this far and stop here, wouldn't it?

The door to Nagato's bedroom slid open with little effort, revealing a truly spooky sight to me. There, suspended in the middle of the room, were two softly glowing, translucent Nagatos in their school uniforms. Like phantoms of hanged men they hung in the air. I noticed that small particles of matter swirled around them. They seemed to be coming more substantial by the moment, more solid. Before long, I wouldn't be able to see the wall behind them through their bodies.

Wow… So, I have to delay B from returning, but how… wait… Oh shit. Which one is _my_ Nagato? What am I supposed to do?

Oh crap oh crap ohcrapohcraohcrapcrapcrap.

_Calm down._

Nagato?

_Yes._

Oh, thank God! Thank Ha- best not go there – What do you want me to do?

_All that you are required to do is to disrupt the reconstruction process._

Yeah, I know, but how?

_A simple relocation of already loosely attached matter through impact should suffice._

You want me to… to hit her?

_Yes. The process advances at an exponential rate. I shall be fully operational within minutes, along with my copy, unless you hinder her. She must be stopped. You can do this. I will take care of the rest._

Okay, but that would mean… what's going to happen to her?

_I will delete her._

And that means…? You're going to kill her? _Yourself_?

I hear nothing for a small moment and then: _…Yes, I suppose the action could be seen as such._

Do you… have to? Isn't there another way?

_No… she is a major risk factor, compromising my mission. Her existence is also unauthorised in the first place. Two identical versions of the same data entity are not allowed to exist. Such redundancy is abhorred by the Integrated Data Sentient Entity._

…

_You must do it._

……

_She is the one to your left._

………

_Her existence could ruin everything. If Suzumiya Haruhi were to see her, the consequences could be disastrous for all parties involved._

……………

_Do it… for me._

…Huh?

I don't know what to do. My mind is a blank; I can't bring myself to even think about it. In order for Nagato to survive… _Nagato_ would have to die. But she never did anything wrong, she's just a girl, just like Nagato herself. How could I ever…

_Do it for me._

Like under the orders of a hypnotist, by body advanced on the Nagato on the left, my fists squeezed tightly, ready for dreaded action.

My mind offered no more guidance. I was in shock, I had to be. This was crazy.

I raised my fist.

_Wait…_

I heard Nagato's voice again, but it was weaker than just before, the same interference plaguing the voice as it had in the park.

_Not me…_

I'm sorry Nagato B, but I think I have to do this. You endanger us all, Haruhi can't find out. Nagato will be locked in a never ending fight with you if you aren't gone. I can't let that happen…

_Not me…_

I'm so, so sorry.

I pulled back my fist. My face felt wet, but I ignored the feeling.

_She is… lying…_

………………………………………………… _WHAT_?

_She is… not the one who… originally contacted you… for assistance. It was me… She is… my failsafe program…_

_Do not listen to her, she is lying. She has no other way to protect herself in her weakened state. I am using what little processing power I posses to suppress her, diverting it from reconstruction._

_No, it is… she who is lying… remember… what I said…. Neither had advantage… over other… only way she could have…. advantage now… if I had diverted…. power to contacting you…._

But… that doesn't mean you were my Nagato from the beginning either, does it? You wouldn't kill, would you?

_I am afraid…. neither one of us… can exist while the other does….Not only does risk… of being observed by Suzumiya Haruhi exist… with predicted results varying… from dangerous to apocalyptic… In our prime directives…... to remove unauthorized data entities… Deletion is…… only solution… _

How can I tell who's the real one?

_I warped reality with Suzumiya Haruhi's power once, _both of the Nagatos echoed in my head, one speaking slower than the other. _We went to a library together once. You assisted me in procuring a library card._

Damn it! Which one's the real one?! How can they _both_ know about those things?

_I wanted… to go again….._ The weaker voice said.

I spun on the spot, hitting the Nagato to my right, particles spiralling out of the way of my fist, the Nagato disappearing like dust in a gush of wind.

_Pleas////_

What did I just do? What did I just _do_?

_You saved… My life…_

But what if - ?

_I have no recollection of the time between my moment of malfunctioning and my return to you at the room where I met my accidentally created copy. Between us, there_ would ultimately _have been_ little difference. _She too_ would have come to similar _conclusions_ I had concerning my observation subjects, resulting in a similar malfunction upon regaining my memories," Nagato said, stepping down from midair onto the floor of her bedroom, giving me a fully solid, vacant look. "No matter what you're decision, there would have been little to no change in my personality program, unless enough time would have gone by to install a new mainframe after data analysis, then perhaps, my copy might have been –"

I interrupted Nagato's longwinded explanation, giving the girl a hug, squeezing the little angel against my chest. She looked up at my face and blinked twice.

"It _is_ you, isn't it?" I said. "I'm just so happy to see you again."

"…I also prefer this option personally," Nagato admitted, focusing her eyes on my damp face. "But if you do not mind, I still have unfinished work to do."

"Huh?" I let her go, her heels hitting the floor with a little thump. Nagato walked past me to spot where the other Nagato had levitated in all her ghost like magnificence.

I took the moment to wipe my face, trying to regain some of my lost dignity. Not for her sake, but mine. I can't help but feel so weak sometimes in Nagato's stoic presence. She's such a lonely person, on an insane mission, just three years old or something, having spent most of it just waiting for Haruhi. Throughout all of it, she's persevered. She has so much more strength at such a young age, while I've been around for several times longer than she has, lacking something she had in abundance. I don't know what it's called, maybe it doesn't even have a word for it, but anything that will allow a person to survive three years of perfect solitude is probably something truly valuable. And now? She was being required to do something even far more painful and taxing than those three years ever could have been.

Nagato stood still for a moment, her eyes focused on a spot in the air, and then she chanted her data manipulation at a speed I could never understand or hope to replicate.

After she was done, Nagato stood as still as a statue, still staring emptily into space. She looked lost to me. I took a few steps closer to her and raised my hand. It hovered uncertainly over her turned shoulder.

What should I say? What _could_ I say at a moment like this?

Had Nagato needed to kill herself (well, a virtual copy, if you like to nitpick at details… which I do) in order to make sure she herself survived? She had, hadn't she? That copy of hers… she said there would have been little to no difference? How do you go about killing yourself so you can live? The most intimate of… murders?

Nagato B had actually tried lying so she could continue existing. Her last words had been a plea for life. _Please…_

And then we'd pressed the delete button on her, like she was just an unwanted file on a computer…

I can't even handle this myself…

Just what had happened? Do data entities die? Can they? Will Nagato die some day?

……I can't handle this, I……

I'm doing it again, focusing on myself…

"It…… couldn't have been easy," I finally mustered the courage to say, placing my hand on her small shoulder reassuringly.

She turned her head to look at my hand on her shoulder, still as expressionless as ever. "No," she replied in that familiar monotone I knew so well. Despite our sombre subject, her tone felt oddly reassuring.

We stood still for what seemed like hours, just standing there. Nagato continued looking at my hand, while I tried to think of something to say to her. There was a horrible air of uncertainty around us, indecision digging at our hearts. Then, Nagato brushed my hand off her shoulder and turned around to face me.

She stared into my eyes intently, never blinking. "I have come to a decision."

Oh, about what?

Nagato walked out of her bedroom, into her main room, where she turned to her door, stopping just in front of it. Hesitantly, I followed her.

"I am an impartial observer. I cannot allow my judgement to be affected by personal considerations… I have seen what my individual realizations and thoughts have caused. First there was a major data distortion, and then this event occurred. I cannot and will not risk a repetition of comparable events. I will not make another mistake. Such errors will not be tolerated," Nagato said, still facing the door.

Errors… Nagato's mistakes. I remembered all the things I'd noticed about Nagato just before this whole mess had started. I think I was finally starting to see the constant factor in all the odd behaviour. After all, _I'd_ always been there.

"Umm, if you don't mind me asking, what are these personal considerations, you know, the ones that made you malfunction?" I asked, starting to feel my empty stomach lurch again with nerves. It was a pointless question, but I felt it needed to be asked.

Nagato elegantly turned to face me, her unreadable poker face in place again. "Inconsequential, as of now."

"Please, let me know. I'm sure if you just talk about them openly with someone, like me, it'll be okay. Things shouldn't be kept bottled inside, people go crazy that way."

"I am not a person," Nagato said, lowering her head.

I was shocked by her statement at first, until a sudden anger took hold of me.

"Yes you are," I said sternly.

Nagato remained silent, head down as she stared at her feet, almost as if measuring the distance between us.

"It's normal for humans to act weird when they have strange feelings. It happens to everyone. I know how lonely you must be, please let me help," I said, tenderly touching her slim chin, lifting her head up so we could look into each other's eyes. Like dim stars, her gem like eyes, so empty they drew me in like a black hole. I saw myself reflected back in them, amidst the lonely darkness.

"Whatever your problems are, we can work through them together," I said, lowering my face closer to hers, foreheads nearly touching, lips even closer. "Please let me help you."

Nagato looked at me with an unreadable expression. Then, with one hand she grabbed me by my school uniform's tie, with the other she reached behind her and opened the door to her apartment. She turned slowly on the spot, leading me around her like a goat. When we'd switched sides, she let go of my tie and gently pushed me out of her apartment.

"I will not repeat the same mistake again, endangering myself and others because of whatever I may… feel. It is an error I shall not permit to reoccur. Next time, the consequences could be devastating if such a malfunction is allowed to be repeated. Too often I have acted upon my own thoughts, becoming increasingly erratic in behaviour. There is no telling what might happen if this continues. Something must be done."

"Yuki…" I pleaded desperately with her, dreading her following words. I could see where this was going now. Damn it…

"I don't think we should go to the library again."

She closed the door on me, shutting me out for good. Her only real mistake.

Her true error.


	15. Epilogue & Author's Notes

I don't really remember coming back home after that, just hazy images of a long walk on dark streets. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare after that. I awoke in my bed the next morning, groggy from a sleepless night. I felt sick to my stomach, absolutely horrible.

Ugh, just what had happened? What had I done? Was everything back to normal? Well… as close to normal as it ever got for me nowadays.

My sister was just as persistent as ever in dragging me out of bed, and just as annoying. My cereal that morning tasted as bland as it ever did. The phone call from Haruhi, detailing our next crazy misadventure, came at as misappropriate a time as ever with my sister pushing my phone in with me during my late shower.

It was all business as usual after that. Like it always had been. Sigh… Just why am I feeling so depressed, this is what I wanted right? No change. No… progress?

When I met the SOS-Brigade again later that day, all was as it should be. Koizumi was smiling at me like an idiot, there wasn't even a bruise on his cheek (perhaps I hadn't punched him that hard), although he did sort of avoid looking me in the eye. Asahina-san was as cute as ever, doing her best while getting harassed by Haruhi. And the two others I had been most worried about that day…

In the end, nothing had changed about them. Yuki kept to her books, remaining as taciturn as ever, perhaps even more, and Haruhi seemed to have been reinvigorated with the same zeal she had been when she'd started the SOS-Brigade, not caring no matter what kind of objections were made, or who got in her way. Neither one seemed to acknowledge what had happened between me and them. Almost as if a good part of their memories had disappeared. My following interactions with them felt rather empty and shallow after everything I'd been through with them lately.

Once again I was left wondering, whether it had all been another strange dream about the bizarre girls in my life or not. There was a specific reason why I didn't want to risk confirming whether it had all been a dream from Asahina-san or Koizumi. If it wasn't a dream…

There was an even worse alternative: what if I had inadvertently caused psychological regression in both Haruhi and Yuki? What if I had only hurt these two girls? The former was just as aloof and almost as uncaring as she ever had been at the start of everything and the latter was practically as vocal and expressive as a brick wall, perhaps even less now. Both seemed to have regressed to their earlier states of development. Either way, I still felt guilty. For some reason, remaining in ignorance seemed to at least give me some sort of morbid comfort. I was simply too afraid to properly face the consequences of my possible actions. Uncertainty was better than the absolute knowledge I might gain of knowing I'd caused harm to these two special girls in my life. I guess I was just lucky that neither Asahina-san nor Koizumi felt like discussing the past day if it had indeed even happened.

_Please, let this all have been a nightmare, please…_

Even so, I couldn't help but think back on the possibilities lost and never realized. I wondered just where my fault in all of this was. Had I made a mistake or two?

Where was _my_ error?

* * *

Author's notes:

There, done. With motifs (well, at least _some_ repeating elements) and a proper beginning and ending, which I hope leaves the reader thinking and wanting more. One of the best works I've written thus far, I think. And that Mark Twain quote at the beginning? Just perfect for the story as a whole. And although the ending was bittersweet, I like the irony in Yuki choosing not to be human, to not pursue a deeper relationship with Kyon, for the most human reason of all: concern for friends. And of course, there's the wish Kyon made to Haruhi as well… I really think this is a good place for an ending, continuing any further would probably only dilute the story as a whole.

Just so you know, I happen to think happy endings are overrated. They very rarely touch me on the same level as sad ones do, ones with a true sense of sacrifice or loss. A proper dramatic tragedy should be cathartic. I only hope I was able to induce the slightest of an emotional rollercoaster for my readers; from giddy excitement, to genuine laughs, to a sense of loss and possibly anger (then again, the last one's rather easy to garner when fanfic is involved, isn't it?). Sometimes I feel this story might have gotten a bit unnecessarily melodramatic, but the feeling comes and goes. I tried to remain truthful to the original characters and I think I succeeded fairly well, although there were times I found myself questioning whether characterization was being betrayed in favour of the plot, especially near the end. But I'm just such a sucker for sad stories…

This certainly was a fun short story to write. I hope I'm able to return for another piece in this series, something a bit more light-hearted, but still engaging on a deeper level and with plenty of exciting turns (and time travel too!). I already have some plans, some loose scenes, but nothing cohesive. Something where I push the lines of reality back for Kyon, delving deeper into the interesting philosophical aspects the series presents. It'll just take a short while, as I intend collect more data on what happens later on in the series (still a couple volumes to go).

Possibly my only regret concerning this story was a rather short focus on characters, besides Kyon, Haruhi and Yuki, and I would actually liked to have spent even _more_ time with Yuki, but the story just didn't write itself that way. It was more about how Kyon himself felt about Yuki and Haruhi. I'm not entirely sure why I wrote this story in a way that basically ended in a retcon, with everything left like it might never have happened at all… I guess I just like writing stories that could easily fit inside the actual storyline, without causing any major ripples, but adding a rather sad undertone to it all.

Experimenting with the first person narrative sure was a lot of fun as well. Not only does it allow me to merely describe the actions of other characters in a way that leaves room for alternative interpretations, but it also allows me as the writer to offer possible insights on the other characters, all the while remaining as a somewhat unreliable narrator in the form of a character. Writing from Kyon's perspective was easy and came about very naturally, since he is the average guy after all, but he is also a bit of a sarcastic jerk inside his head, just like I am. If I do manage to make another proper story, it'll probably be from his perspective as well.

As a final thought, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed this work. It's nice to hear that there are people who enjoy what I write, and the constructive criticism was much appreciated as well, especially since writing feels like one of the few worthwhile things in my life at the moment. This work is dedicated to all of you. But most of all, thank you for reading. Here's hoping there's still more stories left to tell.

[Edit: I've created a forum for discussion concerning this story (where I've explained some of the subtext behind Nagato's "errors" since one or two people seemed to miss it), so feel free to visit it if you feel like asking something. I'm sure you people can find it more easily than I could direct you to it. I'm still a n00b on this site.]


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